An outer epidermis covers the body, and an inner gastrodermis lines the digestive cavity. A nerve net running through both layers coordinates the animal's response to stimuli. Some jellyfishes also have sensory cells and contractile cells. A jellylike mesoglea lies between the outer and inner body layers. Jellyfishes have abundant mesoglea helpful in providing buoyancy and in swimming.
Polyps have little mesoglea but use the water in their guts as a hydrostatic skeleton.
The life cycle of a cnidarian may have a polyp and medusa stage, or it may have just the polyp. The medusa is usually the sexual form with either epidermal or gastrodermal gonads. The zygote develops into a swimming larva called a planula. Polyps reproduce by asexual budding. The cilia beat in waves for propulsion.