Jellyfish
| Jellyfish swarm | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Vermin (aquatic, swarm) |
| CR | 6 |
| Environment | Any aquatic |
| Alignment | |
| Images of jellyfish | |
Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 170 | |
Jellyfish[1] are translucent, aquatic creatures consisting of a wide, gelatinous bell trailing several long, poisonous tentacles. They are carnivores, although most types of jellyfish are too small to threaten humanoids. However, they can potentially become very dangerous when they gather in large swarms, something that is known to occur in spring or as a response to conditions such as increasing ocean temperatures. These jellyfish swarms do not actively seek out larger creatures as prey, but will strike opportunistically when potential targets enter into the nearly invisible swarm. Despite their name, jellyfish are not true fish.[2]
Giant jellyfish
| Giant jellyfish | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Vermin (aquatic) |
| CR | 7 |
| Environment | Any oceans |
| Alignment | |
Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 170 | |
| Death's head jellyfish | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Vermin (aquatic) |
| CR | 1 |
| Environment | Any oceans |
| Alignment | |
Source: Bestiary 3, pg(s). 155 | |
| Sapphire jellyfish | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Vermin (aquatic) |
| CR | 11 |
| Environment | Warm and temperate oceans |
| Alignment | |
Source: Bestiary 3, pg(s). 155 | |
While most jellyfish only reach small sizes, several varieties are known to reach considerable sizes. Giant jellyfish, unlike their smaller relatives, are often active hunters of humanoid-sized prey. Multiple distinct varieties of giant jellyfish are known to exist, often varying in size and possessing different abilities from one another.
- Death's head jellyfish are distinguished by their relatively small size compared to other giant jellyfish species, the skull-like pattern on their bells from which their name is derived, and their ability to produce a toxin that causes the facial muscles of those stung by these creatures to tense in a wide-eyed grimace. They are roughly four feet in diameter.[3]
- Crimson jellyfish[2]
- Sapphire jellyfish store powerful electrical charges transmitted through their tentacles. Their bells are usually 16 feet in diameter, and their sensory tentacles can trail 32 feet behind these creatures.[3]
- Vampire jellyfish[2]
- Whaler jellyfish[2]
Similar creatures
Multiple creatures similar to jellyfish exist throughout Golarion and the Great Beyond. The components of swimming eye swarms are bizarre, deep-ocean entities resembling jellyfish with an eyeball suspended in their mesoglea, which serves both to generate poison and as a sensory organ.[4] Whyrlishes are creatures resembling enormous jellyfish native to the Astral Plane, where they feed on the metaphysical energies of the River of Souls.[5] Merlucents are a species of half-human, half-jellyfish aberrations.[6]
In Golarion
| Bathysphere jellyfish | |
|---|---|
| (Creature) | |
| Type | Vermin (aquatic) |
| CR | 1/2 |
| Environment | Any water (Plane of Water) |
| Alignment | |
Source: Planes of Power, pg(s). 58 | |
Whaler jellyfish are among the predators drawn to the Antarkos Ocean by the abundant fish and krill found there.[7]
Extraplanar jellyfish
The Plane of Water is home to diminutive bathysphere jellyfish, which can produce breathable air within their bells and are occasionally used as naturally-occurring breathing devices by air-breathing visitors to the plane.[8] Additionally, a kelp forest within the plane is home to the Lion's Mouth, a sapient jellyfish-like entity composed of billions of perceptive organs.[9]
References
For additional resources, see the Meta page.
- ↑ Singular and plural are the same.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Wolfgang Baur et al. (2010). Bestiary 2 (First Edition), p. 170. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-268-5
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jesse Benner et al. (2011). Bestiary 3 (First Edition), p. 155. Paizo Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-60125-378-1
- ↑ Eric Hindley, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, and F. Wesley Schneider. (2016). Bestiary. In Search of Sanity, p. 87. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-882-3
- ↑ Robert Brookes et al. (2018). Planar Adventures, p. 248. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-64078-044-6
- ↑ Thurston Hillman, Jason Keeley, and Kalervo Oikarinen. (2016). Bestiary. Wrath of Thrune, p. 90–91. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-824-3
- ↑ Amber E. Scott and Mark Seifter. (2017). Aquatic Adventures, p. 4–7. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-944-8
- ↑ John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, and Jessica Price. (2016). Planes of Power, p. 58. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-883-0
- ↑ John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, and Jessica Price. (2016). Planes of Power, p. 45. Paizo Inc. ISBN 978-1-60125-883-0
External links
- Jellyfish (real-world animal) on Wikipedia