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Bluebottles and hydroids

Bluebottles differ from true jellyfishes in several ways. The gas-filled float supports a number of specialised tentacles, which are actually members of a complicated colony. The individual members, or 'zooids', cooperate to form what looks to us like one animal. Hydroids are colonial, plant-like animals, some of which are also found in freshwater.

Box jellies

Cubozoans have a box-shaped bell with tentacles at each corner. They are generally strong swimmers and have painful stings. Some tropical cubozoans are among the deadliest of all venomous marine animals, including the Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri).

Jellyfish

Scyphozoans are members of the Phylum Cnidaria and are sometimes referred to as 'true jellyfish'. The free-swimming medusa form is the dominant life stage for this group, while the polyp form is a juvenile stage for many.

Anemones and corals

The Class Anthozoa contains the sea anemones and corals. Unlike other cnidarians, anthozoans do not have a medusa stage in their development. Some anthozoans can reproduce asexually by budding.

Image gallery

Jellyfish, anemone and coral photos

Jellyfish, anemone and coral photos

Jellyfish, anemone and coral photos

Cnidarians in the Australian Museum Collections

The Marine Invertebrates Collection includes specimens of cnidarians such as jellyfish, corals and anemones.

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