Jellies!

I had a "behind the scenes" tour of the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39 in San Francisco today. Small, but highly recommended if you plan on a visit to San Francisco. It's probably the least "touristy" thing to do on pier 39.

These jellyfish were quite interesting.

Enjoy!

More on development process:

Jellyfish development occurs in multiple phases. Eggs and sperm develop into larval planulae, become polyps, bud into ephyrae and then transform into adult medusae. In some species, specimens may skip some phases.
The planula is a small larva covered with cilia. It settles onto a firm surface and develops into a polyp.

The polyp is generally a small stalk with a mouth that is ringed by upward-facing tentacles. The polyps resemble the closely related Cnidaria anthozoan (sea anemones and corals) polyps. The jellyfish polyp may be sessile, living on the bottom or on another substrate such as floats or boat hulls, or it may be free-floating or attached to tiny bits of free-living plankton or rarely, fish or other invertebrates. Polyps may be solitary or colonial. Polyp colonies form by strobilation, in which multiple polyps share a common stomach cavity. Most polyps are only millimeters in size. They feed continuously. The polyp stage may last for years (sometimes as long as 20 before becoming a full-fledged jellyfish).

The next stage is the ephyra, which is a free-swimming precursor of the final adult stage.

The ephyra then develops into a medusa. The medusa is the life stage that is typically identified as a jellyfish.