what is a group of jellyfish called?
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A group of jellyfish is sometimes called a bloom or a swarm. “Bloom” is usually used for a large group of jellyfish that gather in a small area, but may also have a time component, referring to seasonal increases, or numbers beyond what was expected. Another collective name for a group of jellyfish is a smack, although this term is not commonly used by scientists who study jellyfish. Jellyfish are “bloomy” by nature of their life cycles, being produced by their benthic polypsusually in the spring when sunshine and plankton increase, so they appear rather suddenly and often in large numbers, even when an ecosystem is in balance. Using “swarm” usually implies some kind of active ability to stay together, which a few species such as Aurelia, the moon jelly, demonstrate.
If you are going scuba diving or swimming in the sea, you would better learn these terms. Or else you can’t even ask for help whenever you see them nearby!
Group Of Jellyfish
Typically, jellyfish are not the type of fish that live or move in a group. According to researchers, jellyfish don’t move in a group intentionally. Forming a group is their way to tackle the water current of the sea.
Jellyfish are not much of a social animal. They don’t prefer groups as their living style, especially the mature or giant jellyfish.
Baby jellyfish may be seen as small groups. But it doesn’t indicate their execution of intentional schooling behavior. It’s just their way of making coverings underwater.
Though their social life has not been fully discovered yet, it’s been concluded that forming a group to explore is definitely an unintentional behavior of jellyfish.
General Collective Nouns for Jellyfish Group
There are no scientific explanations behind the names of jellyfish groups. They are just some collective nouns that are suited in different regions. Therefore, check out the details behind the fantasy names and choose which one you want to call them with!
Smack Of Jellyfish
The term “smack” is most probably the oldest collective noun for a group of jellyfish. Most people don’t use it at present. But the scientists still call the group of jellyfish – smack.
In literal terms, smack indicates the punishment in hand like a sharp blow. It indicates the deadly ability of jellyfish to blow their string on humans. However, scientists don’t consider it as a literal term.
But the smack of jellyfish is still in use because of the box jellyfish. That’s because they can strike a sharp blow with their string in any part of your body and make you seriously injured. So, the meaning of calling a group of jellyfish a smack isn’t wrong after all.
However, the term isn’t much popular now. So, it would be better if you chose another familiar name to call.
Bloom Of Jellyfish
Suppose you are swimming and suddenly you see some flowers coming towards you. Well, swim fast and get away as far as you can. They are not blooming flowers; they are deadly jellyfish who are about to string you!
Thousands of jellyfish roam around the sea. You can recognize them as blooms that are popping out undersea water currents. They are mainly a large group of jellyfish, or you can say thousands of individual jellyfish.
The term bloom indicates a vast number of jellyfish are gathered in relatively less space. It’s not a common scene at sea. The incident is more seasonal when the accommodation doesn’t have room for the excess number of jellyfish.
However, scientists disagree with that. They say jellyfish bloom indicates a significant change in the marine ecosystem. The scientists also prefer to call this large group of jellyfish a bloom because of their by-born bloomy nature.
This type of scenario is pretty common in the spring season. That’s because the spring season is ideal for marine reproduction, and planktons are no different. They grow in shiny areas and attract the blooms of jellyfish.
Fluther Of Jellyfish
The Fluther of jellyfish is commonly used in urban regions. When someone says that they just see a Fluther of jellyfish, they are referring to a group of box jellyfish.
As the box jellyfish is pretty popular in urban regions, the people of those regions spread out the “Fluther” term. However, you can also use the term for other types or species of jellyfish.
This term is not much popular these days. But when you hear the word Fluther, it definitely means the large groups of jellyfish.
Swarm Of Jellyfish
Another broadly used term for jellyfish is swam. The swarm of jellyfish is pretty unique, and you can’t use the term for other species.
You should only use the swarm term or jellyfish species that move together in a group. This type of behavior is commonly found in moon jellyfish.
Only a few scientists believe that when the water current forms the jellyfish group, they live a solitary life. Some scientists also believe that jellyfish can communicate by releasing certain chemicals in seawater.
However, the swarm of jellyfish also indicates that many jellyfish are living together. Sometimes a swarm of jellyfish can cover hundreds of miles of seashore at a time.
Collective Nouns Without Origin
There are also some funny collective nouns to dignify a group of jellyfish. They don’t carry any meaning or etymology in any kind of dictionary. The weird and funny names are:
- Smuck of jellyfish
- School of jellyfish
- Brood of jellyfish
- Smith of jellyfish
Meaningless, right? Well, these names are adapted by urban or local people through twisting the language, and they did it for fun.
So, which funny name would you choose? Maybe a school of jellyfish!
What About the Group of Baby Jellyfish?
Sometimes you may see some baby jellyfish instead of the big ones. So, should you call them bloom or swarm, just like the large groups?
Well, it turns out you can call them by those names. However, there is another particular term just for the group of baby jellyfish. The word is “Ephyra.” Scientists invented this name.
When you see some tiny jellyfish that are just hatched, you should call- “a group of ephyra is coming this way.” The babies just hatched from polyps and will eventually form medusa.
But the most important things – even if you see the ephyra, don’t underestimate them and go nearby!
Fun Facts About Jellyfish
As you are learning how to call the group of jellyfish, you should also learn some fun facts about them to know them keenly.
- Jellyfish can create clones of themselves. So, when you see one of the individuals, don’t dare to touch it. The jellyfish will string you even after its death!
- Jellyfish are known as aquatic animals because of the absence of brains, hearts, bones, and eyes.
- The jellyfish’s body contains gelatinous materials, which are basically 95% water, and the rest is protein and minerals (string poison also contains proteins).
- The names of the group of jellyfish can vary according to their size and species.
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Bottom Line
Despite having all those names, most people prefer to call the group jellyfish bloom or swarm. If you are confused about choosing the group name, have a look at the passage of what a group of jellyfish is called.
Hopefully, you can now choose a name by yourself. Just make sure it’s not rare. If you see a bloom nearby, warn everyone around you and swim for your life!
Fun with words: Inventing cool collective nouns
Words that refer to groups of individuals are collective nouns, and English speakers love them. My local library system has around 30 books that will tell you that a bunch of penguins is a “huddle” or a “tuxedo” and that lots of giraffes make up a “tower.” It is great fun to guess at the connection between the animal and its group designator, to see how creative the naming can get. But are these terms anything more than cool coinages? Has anyone in all seriousness ever said, “Look at that massive unkindness of ravens in that tree!” or “Oh no, I’m right in the middle of a smack of jellyfish!”? Do people, in other words, actually use them?
These terms, also called company names, have been collected and enjoyed for more than 500 years. Three of the very first books printed in England contained long lists of them: “a brace of hounds,” “a charm of goldfinches,” a “truelove of turtledoves.” Many originated as “terms of venery,” which is a fancy word for “hunting.” This gives us an idea of what these words were originally meant to do – they served as shibboleths to separate and rank people. One circa 1470 collection described itself as containing words a “young gentleman” should know, so that he “fail not in his proper terms.” If you were a newly wealthy merchant who wanted your son to hobnob with noblemen, he had to know that one said “a herd of harts” (mature male deer) but “a bevy of roe” (a species of small deer).
