Jellyfish

This stunning debut novel about grief and wonder was an instant New York Times bestseller and captured widespread critical acclaim, including selection as a 2015 National Book Award finalist! After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting--things don't just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door. Oddlot Entertainment has acquired the screen rights to The Thing About Jellyfish, with Gigi Pritzker set to produce with Bruna Papandrea and Reese Witherspoon.

An introduction to these bizarre and beautiful creatures of the sea, filled with color photos and illustrations: “Fascinating.”—Boing Boing Jellyfish are the oldest multi-organed life form on the planet, having inhabited the ocean for more than five hundred million years. With their undulating umbrella-shaped bells and sprawling tentacles, they are compelling and gorgeous, strange and dangerous. In many places they’re also vastly increasing in number, and these population blooms may be an ominous indicator of the rising temperatures and toxicity of the oceans. Jellyfish presents these aquarium favorites in all their glory. Fifty unique species, from the purple people eater to black sea nettles, are presented in stunning photos along with the most current scientific information on their anatomy, history, distribution, position in the water, and environmental status. Foremost jellyfish expert Lisa-ann Gershwin provides an insightful look at the natural history and biology of each of these spellbinding creatures, plus a timely take on their place in the rapidly changing and deteriorating condition of the oceans. Learn about immortal jellyfish who live and die and live again—as well as those who camouflage themselves amid sea grasses and shells, hiding in plain sight. Discover the jellyfish that’s the world’s most venomous animal, and the jellyfish that helped scientists win the Nobel Prize. They’re all here and more in this delightful volume. “A thorough coverage of jellyfish history, biology and ecology. Gershwin, a marine biologist who has discovered over 200 new species of jellyfish, does an excellent job of combining a compelling narrative of 50 different jellyfish with luscious, I-can’t-believe-they’re-real photos.”—Boing Boing

"Meet the jellyfish! Learn about how this strange sea creature lives without blood or a brain. Elementary-aged readers will discover jellyfish that can glow in the dark. Full color images and clear explanations highlight the habitat, diet, and lifestyle of these fascinating ocean animals. A Japanese folk tale explains why jellyfish have squishy bodies. Part of Creative Education's Amazing Animals series, this title will delight animal lovers and serve both report writers and browsers. Includes table of contents, an index, on-page definitions, and further resources for interested readers"--

Jellyfish', a group that includes scyphomedusae, hydromedusae, siphonophores and ctenophores, are important zooplankton predatorsthroughout the world's estuaries and oceans. These beautiful creatureshave come to public attention as featured exhibits in aquaria and innews headlines as invaders and as providers of genes used inbiomedical research. Nevertheless, jellyfish are generally consideredto be nuisances because they interfere with human activities bystinging swimmers, clogging power plant intakes and nets of fishermenand fish farms, and competing with fish and eating fish eggs andlarvae. There is concern that environmental changes such as globalwarming, eutrophication, and over-fishing may result in increasedjellyfish populations.The literature reviews and research papers in this volume explore theinteractions between jellyfish and humans. Papers cover the medicalaspects of jellyfish stings, jellyfish as human food and jellyfishfisheries, interactions of jellyfish and fish, effects ofenvironmental changes on jellyfish, effects of introduced ctenophoreson the Black Sea ecosystem, factors causing increases orconcentrations of jellyfish, and others aspects of jellyfish ecology.This is an important reference for students and professional marinebiologists, oceanographers, fishery scientists, and aquarists.

Where do we go when we die? Use this vibrantly illustrated story to guide your kids through the grieving process, with the help of a jellyfish that eternally regenerates and a young boy missing his grandfather. When a young boy's grandfather dies suddenly, he feels overwhelmed and confused. They will never see each other again. To his delight, they meet again in a dream, where his grandfather takes him to Transfer City, where our departed loved ones live on through our memories. In this modern, Eastern telling of the afterlife, death is not an ending, but a new start to life, just like the Immortal Jellyfish which is constantly maturing and then regressing, staying as present as our deceased loved ones do in our memories. From the Chinese illustrator, Sang Miao, whose Out Out Away from Here was praised as "superb" by the New York Times, this cloth bound picture book printed on FSC certified paper is as beautiful to hold as it is essential for little kids asking the big questions.

Discusses why the jellyfish population has exploded in recent years and why their dominance is indicative of a declining ocean ecosystem.

"A book full of wonders" —Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk "Witty, insightful. . . .The story of jellyfish. . . is a significant part of the environmental story. Berwald's engaging account of these delicate, often ignored creatures shows how much they matter to our oceans' future." —New York Times Book Review Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting—microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity—is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers. More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders. Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world. She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It’s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.

"Chased to the depths of the bottomless blue, What does a tiny Jellyfish do? Jellyfish is quietly crooning in the shallows, when knife-nosed Swordfish swooshes, races and chases her, down, down, down, deep into the dark blue sea. At that moment, stealthy Squid stretches a tentacle, tussling and tossing Swordfish in the darkness. Who will help Swordfish? He makes a last wish ... Then ... ON goes a light - it's Jellyfish!"--Publisher information.