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The study of the natural history of gelatinous zooplankton (‘gelata’) reached a high point at the end of the 19th century, when scientists first began to understand the phylogenetic and ecological links between cnidarians and ctenophores. Siphonophores, carefully figured in their entirety, and gauze-like lobate ctenophores too fragile to touch, were described by the dozens. In the ensuing years, focus on zooplankton shifted toward more ‘industrial’ goals such as quantitative sampling using plankton nets. While plankton scientists were busy summing tattered parts, they lost sight of the whole jellies themselves, and a crustaceocentric view of the ocean came to dominate. During this period, the most dramatic breakthroughs in cnidarian research came from laboratory studies of neurobiology, physiology, and development, particularly of certain model organisms. Now, at the turn of this century, we have the …