Jellyfish - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish

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Jellyfish or jellies[1] are softbodied free-swimming aquatic animals with a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell
and trailing tentacles. The bell can pulsate to acquire locomotion, while the stinging tentacles can be utilized
to capture prey by emitting toxins. Jellyfish species are classified in the subphylum Medusozoa which makes
up a major part of the phylum Cnidaria, although not all Medusozoa species are considered to be jellyfish.
Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea. Scyphozoans are exclusively marine, but
some hydrozoans live in freshwater. Large, often colorful, jellyfish are common in coastal zones worldwide.
Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years,[2] and possibly 700 million years or more, making
them the oldest multi-organ animal.[3]

The popular English name jellyfish has been in use since 1796.[4] It has traditionally also been applied to other
animals sharing a superficial resemblance, for example ctenophores (members from another phylum of common,
gelatinous and generally transparent or translucent, free-swimming planktonic carnivores now known as comb
jellies) were included as "jellyfishes".[5] Even some scientists include the phylum ctenophora when they are
referring to jellyfish.[6] Other scientists prefer to use the more all-encompassing term gelatinous zooplankton,
when referring to these, together with other soft-bodied animals in the water column.[7]
As jellyfish are not true fish, which are vertebrates, the word jellyfish is considered by some to be a misnomer.
Public aquaria often use the terms jellies or sea jellies instead.[8] The term "jellies" may have become more
popular than "jellyfish".[1] In scientific literature, "jelly" and "jellyfish" are often used interchangeably.[9] Some
sources may use the term "jelly" to refer to organisms in this taxon, as "jellyfish" may be considered
inappropriate.[10]
Many textbooks and sources refer to only scyphozoans as "true jellyfish".[11][12]
A group of jellyfish is sometimes called a bloom or a swarm.[13] "Bloom" is usually used for a large group of
jellyfish that gather in a small area, but may also have a time component, referring to seasonal increases, or
numbers beyond what was expected.[14] Another collective name for a group of jellyfish is a smack,[15] although
this term is not commonly used by scientists who study jellyfish. Jellyfish are "bloomy" by nature of their life
cycles, being produced by their benthic polyps usually in the spring when sunshine and plankton increase, so
they appear rather suddenly and often in large numbers, even when an ecosystem is in balance.[16] Using
"swarm" usually implies some kind of active ability to stay together, which a few species such as Aurelia, the
moon jelly, demonstrate.[17]
Medusa jellyfish may be classified as scyphomedusae ("true" jellyfish), stauromedusae (stalked jellyfish),
cubomedusae (box jellyfish), or hydromedusae, according to which clade their species belongs.[18]
The term medusa was coined by Linnaeus in 1752, alluding to the tentacled head of Medusa in Greek
mythology.[4] This term refers exclusively to the non-polyp life-stage which occurs in many cnidarians, which is
typified by a large pulsating gelatinous bell with long trailing tentacles. All medusa-producing species belong to
the sub-phylum Medusozoa.

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