Abstract:Since the beginning of this century, the giant jellyfish blooms which seriously damaged local fisheries and marine ecosystem, appeared in the Northern part of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, Western coastline of Korea and the Sea of Japan in successive years. Yet the environmental factors that control the sizes of jellyfish populations are not well understood due to the complexity of the mechanism of the giant jellyfish blooms. The giant jellyfish (Cnidaria) exhibit two types of reproduction, one is asexual reproduction, including fertilized eggs, planula, scyphistoma, podocyst, strobila and ephyra; the other is sexual reproduction, including medusa or jellyfish, typically solitary, pelagic. In the early life history, podocyst generation and strobilation which determined the number of medusa ultimately, were two important modes of asexual reproduction. The effects of temperature, salinity, light and nutrition on the larva of giant jellyfish, were reviewed and indicated that temperature is one of the main factors influencing the asexual reproduction. Factors including salinity, light and nutrition had a certain effect on the larval growth at the optimal value range of temperature, and the adaptive range of factors changed with the species and larval development. At last the article prospected the future study about the effects of environmental factors on different species larvae of giant jellyfish; the combined effects of environmental factors on the larval growth of giant jellyfish; and relation between the dynamic environmental factors and the larval growth.