Summer Jellyfish

Jellyfish have always been right near the top of my list of creatures to photograph. They are both impressive and mesmerising, marked with incredible colours, ands their mysterious nature makes them even more compelling to photograph - especially because they only visit the Cornish coast for 2-3 months each year.

My favourite has always been the compass jellyfish. These very large and beautifully marked creatures are genuinely exciting to see and capture, and each year I always try to photograph some of them at sunrise and with splitshots. The last couple of years we have had relatively few of the big ones appear, so I’ve been really happy that this year they have returned in much larger numbers. Although that said, they seem to have mostly disappeared again already, so didn’t hang around for long.

It’s not just the compass that visit our coast; the most common species is the blue jellyfish, often appearing as early as May or even April. By late spring and summer they can be abundant, occurring in large swarms at times. They can be both a beautiful deep purple-blue, and less often a straw yellow in form.

Two less common species we also get in Falmouth Bay are the moon and crystal jellies. The former are probably the most common species seen in the UK, but for some reason never seem to make it into the sheltered bay here, so it’s always nice to see them when they do. Crystal jellies are not true jellyfish but hydrozoans that often feed on the comb jellyfish that also arrive during the summer. Sadly, still no barrel jellyfish to see - these huge jellies used to be seen quite often here, but I haven’t seen one for probably 6-7 years now and they seem to be visiting other parts of the coast instead.

And then there’s the mauve stinger jellyfish - incredibly beautiful yet definitely worth avoiding their stings. I’ve only ever seen these in Falmouth in just one year when they showed up a couple of times in their thousands. That was two years ago now, so I hope they visit again before too long.