Medusa

“I was able to actually collect some of those medusae last year during the bloom, but rearing gelatinous organisms is pretty difficult,” Stajner said.

Before they adhere to the ocean’s surface, they live underwater as tiny creatures known as medusae, Wagner said.

A jellyfish begins its life cycle as an anemone-like creature on the sea floor before undergoing a metamorphosis and sprouting into a recognizable medusa — that Pacman ghost shape we're all familiar with.

Gradually, the medusa buds off the polyp once again, rejuvenated.

Scientists prefer the term jelly or medusa over jellyfish because the creatures are not fish.