Jellyfish

While on holiday in Portugal recently, we found countless giant jellyfish washed up on the beach and in the shallows.

Perhaps it had something to do with the full moon and/or very low tide, both occuring over several days.

These jellyfish were HUGE, the biggest that I found being a good 60 cm across, not counting the 8cm frill!

Some of them were very light in colour, others quite dark. Most of them had a "cross" on the top.











Here is one with the underside uppermost and my foot as a comparison to show the size of these monsters -




A close-up of the underside, showing air bubbles in the veins -





Here is another one on its back and you can see the innards fairly clearly -

 

Now I've seen your jellies K.:thumb:
It might be a Barrel Jellyfish not 100% sure but they can be very big.

 

Great captures, Kedi. I remember seeing a few washe dup when the wife and I were there a few years ago. Sad to think they can't do anything to get themselves back into the water again.

 

Back in the seventies,while on hoilday in Weymouth with the future Mrs Pal:wink:, we found two massive ones near the Pier. They had purple 'growths' on top? and tendrils about six feet long:cnfs:

 

While my O.H. and i were on hols in Malta winter 2006, St Pauls bay was full of purple jellyfish, about the size of a clenched fist, there was millions of them.
That bay fills up every winter with all sorts of flotsam and jetsom on the winter tides, but its the best swimming on Malta in summer,deep and clear, and these jellyfish were also swept in, apparently they are food for a certain fish (i forget what) and that fish was in short supply that autumn so the jellyfish multiplied

 

very nice photos but you'd not get within 1 yard of any of these jelly fish.
been stung a few times as a child and still remember the pain.

 

Strongy - I looked up Barrel Jellyfish and they are big, but just couldn't find any with this cross on its back though

Treesurfer - yes, it is somehow a shame that they get stranded like that and it made me wonder why it happened to so many. What was the cause - the moon, the very low tide, do they come in to spawn ....... :cnfs:

Paladin - the Portuguese Man of War have a purple growth, but the ones I have seen were very small, but guess there are other colourful ones.

Pamdish - the ones you saw are the ones I know of as Portuguese Man of War.

Init - sorry to hear that you have been stung several times by one, always heard that it is very painful.

At any rate, I did not go swimming after seeing these monsters washed up, I was too afraid that there might be some still swimmig around and had no desire to collide with one s00k

 

when I was 14, my parents took me to Bulgaria where I fell in love with Boris. The boys used to bring loads of giant Jelly fish which fascinated me, we would prod and poke them - as you do, but I developed a terrible eye infection. My father was an optician (yes of course after two glasses I made a spectacle of myselfe) anyway he recognised it was serious, and took me to the local doctors who sent me to this state of the arts eye clinic.

the problem with my eyes was very well known localy, and caused by contact with the vast quantities of local jelly fish. Beware - a cautionary tale.

 

Fortunate for you waco your dad was an optician. I will never look at jelly fish in the same light again. There again it might have been "THE JELLY FISH REVENGE":grn: 02

 

How dreadful, Waco s00k I hope that you didn't have any lasting trouble. Never heard of that before, thanks for warning all of us.

 

This is the first Multi-pic taken with my new camera -




Must admit that I am thrilled with this function and also that the pics taken with it also turn out well after uploading in PB.