Explainer: Jelly vs. jellyfish: What’s the difference?

All jellyfish are considered jellies, but not all jellies are jellyfish. What gives? Having a body made of jelly, it turns out, doesn’t necessarily mean you are a jellyfish. For instance, omb jellies look in many ways like true jellyfish. But these are actually distant cousins. Comb jellies have different bodies than true jellyfish and don’t make stinging cells as jellyfish do. Those stinging cells are called nematocysts (Neh-MAT-oh-sistz).

Scientists are still trying to figure out a lot about the sea’s gooey creatures, and the different kinds of jellies can be hard to tell apart. True jellyfish are called scyphozoans (Sigh-fuh-ZOH-unz). Then there are two groups of close relatives: box jellies and hydrozoans (HI-druh-ZOH-unz). While these are very close relatives of true jellyfish — and they have the same stinging cells — scientists don’t consider these to be true jellyfish.

Jellyfish and their relatives the box jellies and hydrozoans are very simple animals. They don’t have brains or hearts or lungs. But they do have a thin layer of muscle. They swim by squeezing this muscle. It forces water out the bottom of their bell, propelling them forward. Scientists think jellyfish were the first animals on earth to use their muscles to swim.

Most small jellyfish eat plankton and floating bits of food. Larger ones will eat fish and other small animals that they stun or kill with their stinging cells. Then they bring food to their mouths with tentacle-like structures called oral arms. Many jellyfish will glow when they are bumped or disturbed. They make a special protein that gives off light.