Egg-yolk Jelly – Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California

Phacellophora camtschatica, known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish, with a bell up to 60 cm (2 ft) in diameter and sixteen clusters of up to a few dozen tentacles, each up to 6 metres (20 ft) long.

Like a large bird egg cracked and poured into the water, that three-foot, translucent bell is yolk-yellow at the center, with hundreds of tentacles clustered around the margin. The egg-yolk jelly is one of the larger species of jellies commonly found in Monterey Bay. This massive jelly usually drifts motionless or moves with gentle pulsing. Acting like an underwater spider web with a mild sting, an egg-yolk jelly captures other jellies that swim into its mass of tentacles. For their part, many animals rely on egg-yolk jellies and other gelatinous creatures for food, including sea turtles, at least 50 species of fishes (like the ocean sunfish) and marine birds (like the northern fulmar). Because the sting of this jellyfish is so weak, many small crustaceans, including larval crabs (Cancer gracilis) and Amphipoda, regularly hitchhike inside and on top of its bell and even steal food from its oral arms and tentacles. Young jack fish often can be found swimming among their tentacles.