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
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