Jellyfish Jellyfish Jellyfish or sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are not mobile, being anchored to the seabed by stalks. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion and highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle; the medusa is normally the sexual phase, the planula larva can
Irukandji jellyfish fatal, but two people in Australia are believed to have died from Irukandji stings in 2002 during a rash of incidents on Australia's northern coast attributed to these jellyfish—greatly increasing public awareness of Irukandji syndrome. It is unknown how many other deaths from Irukandji syndrome have been wrongly attributed to other causes. It is also unknown which jellyfish species can cause Irukandji syndrome apart from "Carukia barnesi" and "Malo kingi". Irukandji jellyfish Irukandji jellyfish ( ) are any of several similar, extremely venomous species of box jellyfish. With an adult size of roughly a cubic centimetre (1 cm), they are