Jellyfish: Characteristics
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/3/5/19350031/9009636.png?448)
- Free-swimming marine animals with trailing tentacles and umbrella-shaped bell
- Major non-polyp form of cnidaria phylum
- Can reproduce asexually/sexually, spawn daily as adults with surfeit of food
- Adults release sperm/eggs into water where eggs are fertilized and grow into new organisms
- Some sperm meet with eggs in mother's mouth, and are internally fertilized until developmental stages are reached
- Most jellies have two-stage life cycle
- Planula-larvae stage contains fertilized eggs hatching period
- Lifespan ranges from few hours to several months