POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — They float. They pulse. They captivate. And for Naphtalie Jeanty, they were an unexpected career turn she never saw coming.
These ocean creatures are an explosion of color and mesmerizing movement that greets visitors at the Jellyfish Museum in Pompano Beach, where thousands of jellyfish in all sizes and shapes offer a window into some of the ocean's most ethereal and elusive creatures.
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"Even the most inconsequential creature that we can think of is more consequential than we know," Jeanty said.
Jeanty holds degrees in both archaeology and anthropology and found her way to the museum through a passion for teaching about flora and fauna.
"My degree is in archaeology and anthropology, and I've been doing teaching about flora and fauna and after-school programs, so when it's jellyfish museum I was like what you gotta be kidding me," Jeanty said.
Seemingly simple sea creatures, jellyfish are quite remarkable.
Moon jellies, for example, can regenerate after being split in half.
"These guys, if you split them in half - the moon jellies will actually create two different versions of themselves and will continue on," Jeanty said.
Jellyfish also perform something called symmetrization — the ability to reorganize their bodies for balance.
"They'll reorganize their bodies for balance — so can you imagine - getting a limb cut off and then suddenly just like there's 45 arms and suddenly there's three and maybe this works better for you?" Jeanty said.
When asked whether jellyfish are adaptable, Jeanty did not hesitate.
"I think that's like the No. 1 thing that they are adaptable," Jeanty said.
Jellyfish are also vital to ocean ecosystems.
Polka-dotted jellies on display at the museum are native to a lake on the island of Palau in the South Pacific, where they play a critical role.
"They actually work to keep this lake they live in alive," Jeanty said.
Their contributions extend far beyond a single lake.
"They provide nutrients, they move nutrients, all throughout the ocean, they take out excess ones that don't need to be there," Jeanty said. "It gives people this idea of, oh, like the jellyfish have purpose in the waters."
Some jellyfish even scrub out microplastics — among the smallest particles of pollution found in our seas.
Others, like those with long, lacy arms, provide transportation for crabs.
"The crabs will sort of use them as a school bus, like when they're ready to get off they hop off," Jeanty said.
Comb jellies add another layer of wonder, bending light to create a stunning optical illusion.
"They give off this rainbow sort of effect where the light hits them, and then it looks like lights are running through their bodies — which is kind of fascinating," Jeanty said.
Jellyfish have been gracefully moving through the world's oceans for over 500 million years, making them some of the oldest living species on Earth — predating dinosaurs, trees and even fish.
Despite the name, jellyfish are not technically fish at all.
"They just got the name ... I think a lot of the world is starting to describe them as just jellies," Jeanty said. "But they are not fish; they don't have the same anatomy."
As for predators, jellyfish face threats from sea turtles, birds, fish, other jellyfish, humans, and even sharks.
Some jellyfish are completely harmless, but others can be deadly. The box jellyfish can kill its prey in 3 to 5 minutes. Researchers at the museum have developed an antidote for its potentially fatal sting.
"I think it's going to be a breakthrough," Jeanty said.
Other medical advances involve collagen harvested from flame jellies.
"The collagen has been apparently found to help stop hemorrhages, so we might find that you'll see that collagen in like bandages in the future," Jeanty said.
Research into the Japanese sea nettle has also yielded promising results.
"There's a part of them also that was found to shrink tumors in a mouse cancer, and then so the next step would be possibly human cancer," Jeanty said.
Many beachgoers once thought of jellyfish as little more than a nuisance.
But a visit to the museum offers a different perspective.
"You realize that they're an integral part of the whole ecosystem of the oceans," Jeanty said. "And that makes them amazing."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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