24 
Records of the Australian Museum (2016) Vol. 68 
Figure 1. Location of previous southern records of Cassiopea from Australia (squares) and new localities reported here (circles and 
triangles), star represents anomalous record from Torrens Island Power Station. 
Bigelow, 1892 (Gershwin et ah, 2010; WoRMS, 2014). 
Unfortunately, the correct name applicable to specimens 
from various locations is problematic (Holland et ah, 
2004) and undescribed species are known (Gershwin et al., 
2010). Therefore, few species of Cassiopea can presently 
be accurately identified. 
The genus is widely distributed in the tropics (Holland 
et al., 2004) but also acknowledged as globally invasive 
(Graham & Bayha, 2007). As early as 1886, C. andromeda 
from the Red Sea was recorded in the Suez Canal, and soon 
after in the Mediterranean Sea off Cyprus; today it is known 
from the Aegean coast of Turkey (Gul§ahin & Tarkan, 2012) 
and the central Mediterranean Sea off Malta (Schembri et al., 
2009). Other incursions are recorded from Hawaii (Holland 
etal, 2004). In Australia, five named species or subspecies 
(C. andromeda andromeda , C. andromeda baduensis, C. 
maremetens , C. ndrosia, C. ornata) and two undescribed 
species have been reported (Gershwin et al., 2010). Peron 
& Lesueur (1810) described Cassiopea dieuphila from 
northwestern Australia but its taxonomic status is presently 
indeterminate. Previous southernmost Australian records 
of Cassiopea (Fig. 1) are from Queensland and Western 
Australia, north of approximately 27°58'S on the east coast 
and 16°08'S on the west coast (Atlas of Living Australia, 
2014). An additional anomalous record of C. ndrosia from 
Angas Inlet, near Adelaide, South Australia (approximately 
34°48'S 138°32'E) is associated with the warm water outlet 
of the Torrens Island Power Station where temperatures are 
raised 5-8°C above ambient (Southcott, 1982). 
Here, we report the sudden, recent appearance of medusae 
of Cassiopea from two shallow, widely separated, coastal 
lakes on the central east coast of Australia based on both 
sightings and preserved specimens. These are the first 
records of Cassiopea and Cassiopeidae from temperate 
eastern Australia. 
Materials and methods 
In 2013 and 2014, the authors were contacted through 
colleagues by concerned members of the public seeking 
to identify jellyfish that had appeared in large numbers in 
their local waterways (Lake Illawarra, 2013, and Wallis 
Lake, 2014; Fig. 1) and considered unusual. Subsequently, 
examples of these jellyfish were collected and deposited 
in the collections of the Australian Museum (AM). Whole 
specimens are fixed in 4-10% formalin but non-formalin 
fixed frozen tissue samples have also been retained for 
genetic studies currently in progress. Specimen measurements 
indicate bell diameter (bd). The synonymy of C. ndrosia is 
restricted to the original citation and Australian records. 
