Obelia Medusae

Today I had to use a microscope to locate "Obelia Medusa", a colonial marine organism.  But  being that I was unsuccessful in locating it, I decided to look up information in regards to it.

These colonial marine organisms belong to the phylum cnidaria.  You can find them in the ocean attached to either seaweed, shells, rocks or wood piles.  They kind of look like a jellyfish, they only grow about 30mm-several cm tall.

Obelia have two different ways of reproducing; Asexually, which is called polyp or Sexually, which is called medusae.  Their reproduction strategy is budding.  It starts with two medusae, then they produce an egg and a sperm.  Then throughout development, they turn into branch like organisms.