The moon jellyfish Aurelia spp. is a worldwide distributed scyphozoan species that seasonally blooms in coastal waters. Although the strobilation is directly responsible for the scale of jellyfish bloom, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. We exposed Aurelia coerulea polyps to 18 bioactive substances to test their ability to induce strobilation at the natural typically non-strobilation temperature of 21℃. Results revealed that A . coerulea polyps responded in four types. Type I—no change for estradiol, folic acid, iodine, retinoic acid, serotonin hydrochloride, and vitamin A. We suggested that 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine and N-acetyl-L-glutamic acid could not induce strobilation, since the percent of strobilated polyps in these two substances treatments was 3.3％ and 1％, respectively. Type Ⅱ—polyp body elongation for 3,5-diiodo-L-tyrosine, indole-3-acetic acid, L-dopamine, and noradrenaline treatments. Type Ⅲ—transverse constrictions for L-thyroxine, progesterone, and melatonin treatments. Finally, Type IV—complete strobilation for 5-methoxy-2-methylindole, acetylcholine chloride, and indomethacin treatments, where the pre-strobilation periods were 2, 4, and 2 days, and the mean numbers of ephyrae released per strobila were 4.7, 5.7, and 5.7, respectively. The results reveal that indole derivatives, which contained methoxy or methyl pharmacophore, were the common strobilation inducer in the genus Aurelia . Iodinated organic compounds, catecholamine, acetylcholine chloride, and retinoic acid are species-specific strobilation inducer. Therefore, A . coerulea strobilation is regulated by neuronal and endocrine processes. Our findings provide clues in understanding the mechanism of strobilation and contribute to developing specific strobilation antagonists in controlling moon jellyfish blooms.