Jellyfish, jellies, medusae, quallen, and agua mala—regardless of what you call them, they instill fear and wonder in humans. They are slimy, cold,

Living Fossils: Inside the World of Jellyfish

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2023-03-24 10:00:01

Jellyfish, jellies, medusae, quallen, and agua mala—regardless of what you call them, they instill fear and wonder in humans. They are slimy, cold, wet, and jiggly, lacking a brain or a heart or any sort of remorse when they sting us. Indeed, the world’s most venomous animal is a jellyfish— this creature doesn’t just sting; it kills its victims in as little as two minutes. The pain can be so intense that some say death would come as a relief.

Jellyfish, however, are as beguiling as they are dangerous. They are found in a dazzling array of colors, shapes, and sizes. They are distributed from the North Pole to the South Pole, from the surface to the deepest of the deep seas, and even in freshwater. Some are so delicate they shatter with the smallest disturbance to the water, while others are so appallingly tenacious they can withstand almost any temperature or salinity, starvation, or even being chopped into bits. Some are biologically immortal.

Academic and amateur study of natural history has been dominated by charismatic megafauna, that is, creatures with fur and feathers, plus frogs. Jellyfish have been virtually ignored for hundreds of years. However, they are now enjoying something of a renaissance. This, one might argue, is because jellyfish have become so bothersome that they are demanding our attention.