Gelatinous Plankton: Itchy Jellyfish, Appendicularians with Luxury Chalets, Filter Barrels, and Other Extraordinary Creatures

Jellyfish play a key role in gelatinous plankton, alongside chordates like appendicularians, salps, pyrosomes, and ctenophores. Appendicularians construct efficient filtration houses, while salps and doliolids are barrel-shaped filterfeeders found in various oceans. Pyrosomes, gelatinous colonies with clonal organisms, are bioluminescent. Jellyfish, close relatives of corals, include schyphozoa, cubozoa, hydrozoa, and staurozoa classes, displaying diverse shapes and colors. Some species, like the Nomura jellyfish, cause issues in fisheries. Ctenophores, non-stinging relatives of jellyfish, vary in shapes and include the invasive Mnemiopsis leidyi.