Five of a total of twenty-two pics I took of the exotic Moon Jelly, aka Aurelia aurita, captured 6/29/11, at the beautiful Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in semi beautiful San Pedro, California. By semi beautiful, I mean attractive beach and beachfront property, but a second-world downtown area at best. Pictures taken using the aquarium setting on my Canon PowerShot SX20 point-and-shoot camera, followed by extensive postwork. ------------------------- Aurelia aurita (moon jelly, moon jellyfish, common jellyfish, saucer jelly) is one of a group of more than ten morphologically nearly identical jellyfish species in the genus Aurelia. In general, it is nearly impossible to identify Aurelia medusae without genetic sampling, so most of what follows about Aurelia aurita, could equally be applied to any species of the genus. The medusa is translucent, usually about 25-40 cm in diameter, and can be recognized by its four horseshoe-shaped gonads that are easily seen through the top of the bell. It feeds by collecting medusae, plankton and mollusks with its mucusy bell nematocyst-laden tentacles and bringing the prey into its body for digestion, but is capable of only limited motion; like other jellies it primarily drifts with the current, even when it is swimming. Genus Aurelia is found throughout most of the world's oceans, from the tropics to as far north as latitude 70-degrees N and as far south as 40-degrees S. The species Aurelia aurita, whose distribution has been confirmed by Michael Dawson using genetic analysis, is found along the eastern Atlantic coast of Northern Europe and the western Atlantic coast of North America in New England and Eastern Canada. In general, Aurelia is an inshore genus that can be found in estuaries and harbors. It lives in ocean water temperatures ranging from 6-degrees C to 31-degrees C; with optimum temperatures of 9-degrees C to 19-degrees C. A. aurita prefers temperate seas with consistent currents. It has been found in waters with salinity as low as six parts per thousand. Source: Wikipedia free encyclopedia. In this exhibit at the aquarium, these animals perpetually float downward in front, then curl up at the bottom and rise again at the back, eventually completing a loop. A real bear to photograph in this case because of lighting conditions, the Jelly's constant movement, reflections from other exhibits across the aisle, and the omnipresent, whirling dervish crowd. So, rather than super clarity in these pics, we have phantasmagoric diaphanous images with annoying noise, which many people may find enchanting and preferable. Any greenish effects you see, which I tried to postwork out in most cases, are reflections from other exhibits, creating a challenge of epic proportions to overcome. In contrast, the anemone and urchins were a snap to shoot compared to this. At this point, I yearn for the ideal conditions of a classic auto show. Cheerio, thankx for clicking on, and for any and all favs and complimentary comments.