Knows that plants and animals have features that help them live in different environments. In fact, some species are some of the largest types of plankton on earth. Scientists classify plankton as a plant or animal at the mercy of the currents something that can t swim against the currents under its own power. This makes a jelly a kind of zooplankton. But jellies are so much more.
Jellies belong to the phylum Cnidaria.
All cnidarians share similar characteristics. Scientists call their body shape a medusa. It resembles the Medusa of Greek mythology. In the legend, Medusa s face was surrounded by a ring of snakes, similar to the tentacles of a jelly. Instead of biting snakes, however, each tentacle of a jelly is filled with stinging cells called cnidocytes.