• Question: Do jellyfish have a brain ? or are they just giant cells ?

    Asked by 0mnomhamster to Ailsa, Evan, James, Kath, Ryan on 15 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ailsa Powell

      Ailsa Powell answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Jelly fish don’t have brains, but they do have a network of nerves called a nerve net. They would detect things around them by touch activating the nerve net.

    • Photo: Evan Keane

      Evan Keane answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      There are also some jellyfish which are “immortal” but I don’t know if I would like to be immortal if I had no brain!

    • Photo: Ryan Ladd

      Ryan Ladd answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      I suppose it depends on your definition of a “brain”. Jellyfish do have nerves which control their movements and process their senses, which is what I would call their brain, but Ailsa probably knows better than me!

      This “brain” though, isn’t a single blob of cells but forms a ring around the jellyfish. Very weird creatures!

      They’re certainly not just giant cells though.

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