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 as food coastal areas have been utilized as a source of food and ingredient in Chinese cuisine for over 1,700 years. Cannonball jellyfish ("Stomolophus meleagris") and jelly blubber ("Catostylus mosaicus") are edible species of jellyfish. When live, the cannonball jellyfish contains toxins that can cause cardiac problems in animals (including humans). "Rhopilema esculentum" and "Rhopilema hispidium" are edible jellyfish, and are the most common ones consumed in China, Japan and Korea. Additional edible jellyfish species include "Aurelia aurita", "C. orsini", "Dactylometra pacifica", "Hispidium spp.", "Lobonema smithi", "Lobonemoides gracilis" and Nomura's jellyfish ("Stomolophus nomuria"). Desalted ready-to-use jellyfish are low in calories and contain