November 3rd is globally recognized as World Jellyfish Day, a day to highlight and celebrate the brainless beauties that have been floating around our oceans for millions of years.

First acknowledged in 2014, this day also focuses on education and conservation efforts for jellyfish. Belonging to the scientific class Scyphozoa under the phylum Cnidaria, which also includes coral and sea anemones, jellyfish are composed of more than 200 species and can be found in all five oceans on Earth. Jellyfish have been around for between 500 to 700 million years, making them the oldest multi-organ animal. Their role in marine ecosystems is extremely important, as they are vastly considered keystone species in most oceanic food webs. Jellyfish are not actually fish – fish anatomy origins around their spines, while jellyfish do not have a spine, gills, a brain, bones, or even blood.

Links:
World Jellyfish Day