Atmospheric beast

Atmospheric beasts are hypothetical non-winged organisms which could live in the atmosphere of planets. These could fly (or float) without wings as they weigh less than air. The term is also used to describe some cryptids, for example the Crawfordsville monster.
In astrobiological speculation
Carl Sagan proposed, albeit offhandedly, that this kind of creature could live in the atmosphere of a gas giant, such as Jupiter. Illustrations of atmospheric beasts have appeared in books, exhibiting speculation as to the exotic forms extraterrestrial life might take. Descriptions of this sort often portray these beings as living balloons, filled with lighter than air gases. In the context of a Jupiter-like planet with an atmosphere of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium by mass, such an organism would have to use a nearly pure hydrogen or "hot hydrogen" balloon, since there is no other lighter gas.
In fiction
Atmospheric creatures on Earth have served as the premise of several science-fiction stories since the early 20th century, though most of these refer to atmospheric beasts on Earth, not the Sagan hypothesis of creatures living in the atmospheres of gas giants.
The first occurrence of such creatures in science fiction was in Will A. Page's 1911 short story "The Air Serpent", which, as the title implies, was about a flying, reptilian-looking creature. Arthur Conan Doyle elaborated upon the idea in his 1913 story "The Horror of the Heights", which portrayed an entire ecosystem of semi-solid beasts living at previously undiscovered heights in the atmosphere, as did Ray Bradbury in The Martian Chronicles.
Arthur C. Clarke's A Meeting with Medusa deals with creatures in the atmosphere of Jupiter.
The game franchise Pokémon features several of these, such as Rayquaza, an enormous dragon that flies through the ozone layer without ever needing to touch the ground.

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