How do jellyfish reproduce? That depends on which jellyfish you mean.

These gooey, brainless drifters don't all follow the same rules, but they do share one thing: a wildly complex life cycle that flips between forms and reproduction styles.

Most jellyfish species reproduce both sexually and asexually. That means some life stages involve fertilized eggs, while others rely on cloning themselves.

To understand how, you need to track a jelly through its wild ride from egg to adult.

From Egg to Medusa: The Jellyfish Life Cycle

In most jellyfish, reproduction begins when adult medusae (that’s the familiar bell-shaped jellyfish form) release eggs and sperm into the water. Fertilization usually happens externally.

Once fertilized, the egg becomes a larval stage called a planula. Think of i

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