Jellyfish always much greater than the Lion's Mane, whose bell diameter can reach . The rarely encountered deep-sea jellyfish "Stygiomedusa gigantea" is another candidate for "largest jellyfish", with its thick, massive bell up to wide, and four thick, "strap-like" oral arms extending up to in length, very different from the typical fine, threadlike tentacles that rim the umbrella of more-typical-looking jellyfish, including the Lion's Mane. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle which includes both sexual and asexual phases, with the medusa being the sexual stage in most instances. Sperm fertilize eggs, which develop into larval planulae, become polyps, bud into ephyrae
Jellyfish jellyfish, because jellyfish feed on plankton, which includes fish eggs and larvae. Jellyfish form a component of jelly-falls, events where gelatinous zooplankton fall to the seafloor, providing food for the benthic organisms there. In temperate and subpolar regions, jelly-falls usually follow immediately after a bloom. Most jellyfish are marine animals, although a few hydromedusae inhabit freshwater. The best known freshwater example is the cosmopolitan hydrozoan jellyfish, "Craspedacusta sowerbii". It is less than an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter, colorless and does not sting. Some jellyfish populations have become restricted to coastal saltwater lakes, such as Jellyfish Lake in Palau. Jellyfish