Did you know that Jellyfish aren’t really fish at all?
They are from a family called Cnidarians and are very closely related to sea anemones and corals! Cnidarians are very simple animals with stinging tentacles and simple internal organs. They aren’t very good swimmers and rely heavily on the water current to carry them around the water, which is one reason why jellyfish often occur in big groups known as “blooms” or “swarms.”
Jellyfish’s long tentacles are covered in stinging cells known as nematocysts, which are used to catch their food. They feed on tiny plankton that they catch using harpoon like stings and drawing the prey up to their mouth.
Although all jellyfish have stings, not all of them would be able to hurt us as most of their stings aren’t strong enough! The box jellyfish however, which can be found in tropical water such as the coast of Australia, does have a very strong sting and is thought to be the most dangerous animal in the ocean, and one of the most dangerous animals in the whole world.