The jellies exhibit will remain at the Aquarium for 20 months in a special exhibit gallery that will feature new and exciting sea creatures every few years. Therefore we wanted to expose residents and visitors to Southern California to the wonders of these delicate and strange animals. We think the variety of the species in this exhibit will thrill our guests. They are relatives of the sea anemones and corals and range in size from creatures not much larger than a pencil eraser to those longer than a basketball court. Equipped only with this simple design, jellies have managed to survive for more than 650 million years in all oceans.
Most jellies propagate asexually.
Young jellies are called larvae, and they begin life by attaching to a solid surface and then grow to resemble a tiny flower - a polyp. Acquiring Sea Jellies The Aquarium of the Pacific already houses two species of sea jellies, moon jellies and sea nettles. These jellies have been obtained from either other aquariums or brought to the Aquarium by the facility's own staff of curators and aquarists who have collected the animals from waters off the coast the Southern California. Since the Phantoms of the Deep exhibit will offer many new species of jellies, the Aquarium of the Pacific's animal husbandry team will work with other institutions to garner species not found locally in Southern California. However, there are many species of sea jellies that dwell in Southern California that are not showcased in the Aquarium.