What is Jellyfish?
- A jellyfish is free-swimming marine animals consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. The bell can pulsate for locomotion, while stinging tentacles can be used to capture prey.
- Jellyfish have drifted along the ocean currents for 650 millions of years, even before dinosaurs lived on the Earth. They are abundant in cold and warm ocean water, in deep water, and along coastlines.
- Jellyfish have tiny stinging cells in their tentacles to stun or paralyze their prey before they eat them. All Jellyfish are Cnidaria, an animal phylum that contains jellies, sea anemones, and coral, among others.
Unique Features
STINGS:
SIZE AND WEIGHT:
Jellyfish range from about one millimeter in bell height and diameter to nearly two meters in bell height and diameter; the tentacles and mouth parts usually extend beyond this bell dimension.
Weight ranges from 4.4 pounds
- Jellyfish can be painful to humans and sometimes very dangerous but they don't purposely attack humans
- Most stings occur when people accidentally touch a jellyfish
- Sting from a dangerous species can be deadly like the box-like Jellyfish.
SIZE AND WEIGHT:
Jellyfish range from about one millimeter in bell height and diameter to nearly two meters in bell height and diameter; the tentacles and mouth parts usually extend beyond this bell dimension.
Weight ranges from 4.4 pounds
Life Span
Jellyfish lifespans typically range from a few hours (in the case of some very small hydromedusae) to several months. Life span and maximum size varies by species. Jellyfish held in public aquariums are carefully tended, fed daily even when food might be seasonally rare in the wild, and sometimes treated with antibiotics if they develop infections, so may live several years, though this would be very unusual in the sea. Most large coastal jellyfish live 2 to 6 months, during which they grow from a millimeter or two to many centimeters in diameter. One unusual species is reported to live as long as 30 years.