Jellyfish Journey

📄 Program Guide

• Download a PDF version of our Educator Program Guide.

🎓 Audience

Education: Grade(s) 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Teacher(s)/Educator(s), Parent, Adult Learners, Homeschool/Family , Learning Pod; Public Library: Library Patrons, Library Staff

 🐾 Topics

Career & Technical Education (CTE), Economics/Business, Health & Physical Education, Industrial Technology, Professional Development, Science, STEM, Technology/Information Science

🗂️ Format

• Introduction and Prior Knowledge: Introduction to sea jellies, where participants share any facts or insights they’ve gathered about jellyfish.

• Segment 1 - Meet Our Jellies: Meet the different species of sea jellies at the aquarium. Learn about the physical characteristics, behaviors, and adaptations of sea jellies, with a focus on how these unique creatures survive and thrive in their environments.

• Video 1 - Sea Jelly Care and Husbandry: Short behind-the-scenes video of the specialized care and husbandry at the aquarium. Learn about daily care, feeding, and what to do when stung by a jelly.

• Segment 2 - Babies and Life Cycles: Explore the life cycle of sea jellies, aquaculture of sea jellies, their economic importance, and environmental concerns.

• Video 2 - Coral Connection: Video about the relationship between sea jellies and corals. Highlights coral conservation and research, as well as propagation and restoration efforts.

• Segment 3 - Q&A Session: An interactive Q&A segment about sea jellies, anemones, corals, and broader conservation efforts.

• Segments may vary due to weather and veterinary priorities. We will make every effort to deliver the segments as described but may use a combination of live and recorded video when necessary.

🎯 Objectives

1. Identify the physical characteristics and adaptations of sea jellies and related species like anemones and corals.

2. Explore the life cycle stages of sea jellies, including their development from larvae to adults.

3. Analyze the economic and environmental significance of sea jellies and the challenges they pose.

4. Connect the relationship between sea jellies and corals, understanding their roles within marine ecosystems.

5. Engage in discussions about the conservation efforts needed to protect sea jellies and coral reef habitats.

✏️ Standards this program supports

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

• LS1A 3–5 –– Structure and function. Learners observe sea jellies and other cnidarians (anemones, corals) and relate external structures like tentacles and stinging cells to survival functions such as feeding and protection.

• LS1A 6–8 –– Structure and function. Learners explore internal and external anatomy across cnidarians and similar gelatinous organisms (e.g., siphonophores, ctenophores), examining adaptations like radial symmetry, pulsation, and buoyancy.

• LS1A 9–12 –– Structure and function. Learners analyze structural differences across cnidarians, connecting these to ecological roles, functional morphology, and evolutionary success in diverse ocean habitats.

• LS1D 3–5 –– Information processing. Learners investigate how sea jellies sense and respond to their environment using light detection, nerve nets, and stinging cells.

• LS1D 6–8 –– Information processing. The program explains how sea jellies process stimuli (e.g., touch, light) without centralized brains, affecting movement, feeding, and defense.

• LS2A 3–5 –– Interdependent relationships in ecosystems. Learners explore food webs and symbiotic relationships, such as clownfish and anemones or algae living within coral tissues.

• LS2A 6–8 –– Interdependent relationships in ecosystems. Learners examine how sea jelly blooms, coral bleaching, and reef decline affect predator-prey dynamics and ecosystem health.

• LS2A 9–12 –– Interdependent relationships in ecosystems. Learners evaluate how species interactions and dependencies—such as coral-algae symbiosis—impact biodiversity and resilience in changing marine ecosystems.

• LS2C 3–5 –– Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience. Learners consider how reef ecosystems and sea jelly populations respond to natural and human-induced changes.

• LS2C 6–8 –– Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience. Learners assess how disruptions like overfishing, pollution, or warming seas impact coral reefs, promote sea jelly blooms, or shift ecosystem balance.

• LS2C 9–12 –– Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience. Learners explore feedback loops and thresholds in marine ecosystems, using coral reef decline and jelly proliferation as examples of shifting resilience.

• LS4C 3–5 –– Adaptation. The program highlights unique survival traits among sea jellies, including transparency, venom, camouflage, and colonial living.

• LS4C 6–8 –– Adaptation. Learners explore how environmental pressures shape different adaptations in gelatinous organisms and reef-builders across ocean zones.

• LS4C 9–12 –– Adaptation. Learners examine long-term evolutionary adaptations in cnidarians and ctenophores and how proteins like GFP have been adapted by humans for biomedical research.

Ocean Literacy Principles

• • Ocean Literacy Principle #3 – The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate.

  • Ocean Literacy Principle #5 – The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems.

  • Ocean Literacy Principle #6 – The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• • 13 - Climate Action

  • 14 - Life Below Water

Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS)

• SC.3.L.15.1 – Classify animals into major groups based on physical characteristics and behaviors. Application: Learners identify sea jellies as invertebrates, their classification as cnidarians or ctenophorans, and how they differ from other marine animals.

• SC.4.L.17.4 – Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact the environment. Application: The program discusses how sea jellies and marine life interact with their environment and the effects of human activities on these organisms.

• SC.5.L.17.1 – Compare and contrast adaptations displayed by animals and plants that enable them to survive in different environments such as life cycles variations, animal behaviors and physical characteristics. Application: Learners examine sea jelly anatomy and life cycles.

• SC.6.L.15.1 – Analyze how organisms are classified based on shared characteristics. Application: Learners examine sea jellies within the Linnaean classification system and their distinguishing biological traits.

• SC.7.L.17.3 – Describe limiting factors in an ecosystem and their impact on populations. Application: The program investigates factors affecting sea jelly populations, such as water quality, habitat availability, and disease.

• SC.8.N.4.2 – Explain how political, social, and economic concerns affect science and vice versa. Application: The program explores how sea jelly management intersects with tourism, fishing industries, and global climate policies.

• SC.912.L.17.8 – Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species. Application: Learners explore the increase in sea jelly populations and the contributing factors, including human impacts and climate change.

• Aquaculture: The cultivation of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants for food or other resources.

• Bioluminescence: The production and emission of light by a living organism, often used for attracting prey or mates, or for defense.

• Biofluorescence: The ability of an organism to absorb light at one wavelength and re-emit it at another, typically as a visible color, often used for communication or camouflage.

• Bloom: A rapid increase in the population of planktonic organisms in an aquatic environment, often due to favorable conditions such as nutrient availability.

• Calcium Carbonate: A chemical compound found in the shells of many marine organisms, including corals, which use it to build their skeletons.

• Cnidaria: A phylum of aquatic invertebrates that includes sea jellies, corals, and anemones, characterized by the presence of specialized cells called cnidocytes, which contain nematocysts.

• Conservation: (biology) The protection, preservation, and careful management of natural resources and environments, particularly to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect.

• Coral Bleaching: The loss of color in corals due to the expulsion or death of their symbiotic zooxanthellae, often caused by environmental stress like increased water temperature.

• Ctenophore: Also known as comb jellies, these are marine invertebrates that move by beating rows of cilia and are known for their distinctive bioluminescence.

• Ecosystem: A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment, functioning as a system that includes both biotic and abiotic components.

• Ephyra: A juvenile stage in the lifecycle of a sea jelly, following the strobila stage and preceding the adult medusa stage.

• Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP): A naturally occurring protein first discovered in jellyfish that glows green under ultraviolet or blue light; used in biomedical research to track gene expression and cell activity, and also popular in the aquarium trade for its visual appeal.

• Gorgonian: A type of soft coral, also known as sea fans or sea whips, which have a flexible skeleton made of a protein called gorgonin.

• Invertebrate: An animal lacking a backbone, including a wide range of organisms such as sea jellies, corals, worms, and arthropods.

• Kreisel: A specialized aquarium tank designed for keeping delicate planktonic organisms like jellyfish in a controlled, circular water flow to prevent them from being damaged.

• Medusa: The free-swimming, umbrella-shaped life stage of sea jellies and some other Cnidarians, characterized by a bell-shaped body and trailing tentacles.

• Mesoglea: The gelatinous substance between the outer and inner layers of a sea jelly or other Cnidarians, providing structure and buoyancy.

• Nematocyst: Specialized cells found in Cnidarians, used for capturing prey and defense, containing a coiled thread that can deliver a sting when triggered.

• Nerve Net: A simple and decentralized nervous system found in Cnidarians like sea jellies, allowing them to respond to stimuli with coordinated movements.

• Oral Arms: The structures extending from the center of a sea jelly's bell, used for manipulating food and delivering it to the mouth.

• Planula: The free-swimming or crawling larval stage of a sea jelly or coral, which eventually settles to form a polyp.

• Plankton: Small and microscopic organisms drifting or floating in the sea or freshwater, including phytoplankton (plants) and zooplankton (animals).

• Polyp: (zoology) The sessile, tubular stage of a Cnidarian's life cycle, often attached to a surface and capable of asexual reproduction, eventually giving rise to the medusa stage.

• Salp: A free-swimming marine invertebrate related to the sea squirts, with a transparent barrel-shaped body. 

• Sea Anemone: A type of Cnidarian related to corals and sea jellies, often found attached to surfaces in marine environments, characterized by its sessile lifestyle and tentacles that capture prey.

• Sessile: Describes an organism that is fixed in one place and does not move, such as a coral or anemone.

• Strobila: A stage in the life cycle of some sea jellies, where the polyp form segments and each segment eventually buds off to become an ephyra.

• Symbiosis: A close and often long-term interaction between two different species, which can be mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic.

• Tentacle: Flexible, elongated appendages used by Cnidarians like sea jellies and anemones to capture prey, often lined with nematocysts.

• Zooxanthella: Symbiotic algae that live within the tissues of corals and other marine organisms, providing them with energy through photosynthesis and contributing to the coral's color.

Play Jellyfish Bingo

Play virtual bingo using a computer, smartphone or tablet during your program to focus on key concepts and vocabulary.

• Online

• On paper/PDF

🌐 Websites

• Coral Biobank Alliance

• Biodidac (free digital images for teaching biology): cnidarian images

📚 Books & Publications

• Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone by Juli Berwald (Riverhead Books, 2017) – A nonfiction book that blends marine biology, personal narrative, and environmental science to explore the world of jellyfish. https://juliberwald.com/spineless/

• Jellyfish Culture Manual: Husbandry, Life Support, and Nutrition (2nd ed., Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 2021) – A comprehensive guide for professionals on the care and culture of jellyfish in managed settings. https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2332/jellyfish_care_manual_second_edition_2021_final.pdf

• Science Comics: Coral Reefs by Maris Wicks (First Second, 2016) – A graphic novel-style guide to coral reef science, covering anatomy, ecosystems, and the role of corals in the ocean. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626721456/sciencecomicscoralreefs/

• Coral Reefs: A Natural History by Charles Sheppard (Princeton University Press, 2021) – A comprehensive overview of coral reef biology, geology, and environmental importance, written by a leading coral reef scientist. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691198682/coral-reefs

📰 Mote News

• Mote Marine Laboratory’s International Coral Gene Bank achieves breakthrough coral spawning success with rarely propagated species

• 🪸 More Mote News: corals

🖥️ Videos

• Cecil the terrapin meets jellyfish at Mote Aquarium

• Behind The Scenes – Jelly Lab

• Live Jelly Cam - Monterey Bay Aquarium