The jellyfish wouldn't spawn. The jellyfish, Polyorchis , is the topic species for her final project. The slugs were infected by a parasite, and kept dying. The experiment was going to take too much time. Ellen tries to find more about a parasite infecting her nudibranchs.
Research is a difficult, and often frustrating job, but it can also be very rewarding.
To research your topic well before starting, to make sure it is a new and interesting question 2.