Giant jellyfish spotted off coast of Cornwall is ‘not a monster from the deep’

A marine biologist has told Sky News that a giant six-foot-long jellyfish that was spotted off the coast of Cornwall is not a monster from the deep, despite its appearance.

The giant barrel jellyfish was spotted by divers off the coast of Cornwall, and is one of the largest of its kind seen off UK shores.

Speaking to Sky News, one of the divers Lizzie Daly said: “I think a lot of people think it’s a monster from the deep and that’s absolutely not true.

“If it touched you, you wouldn’t even feel it – its that minimal.”

She and wildlife cinematographer Dan Abbott filmed the creature as part of Wild Ocean Week, an event celebrating the UK’s ocean wildlife.

Ms Daly recounted the moment she saw the animal, saying “it was just the most incredible moment”.

“It just happened to be that we were diving just offshore at a place called Silver Steps in Falmouth, Cornwall, just kind of diving around the reef and we turned round into the murky waters and it appeared,” she said.

The divers saw it in shallow waters of about six-feet deep, and said it could be seen from aerial photographs.

“You can actually see the distinctive lovely creamy colour and its big body. You can actually see them from the air in some cases, so it’s a very big jellyfish that, one not to be scared of – its going to be celebrated,” she said.

Ms Daly also suggested there could be a link between where the creature was spotted and the warming oceans.

She said warmer seas lead to more plankton and encourages jellyfish to come and feed.

She said: “They move very slowly and undulate through the water.

“We were with this one particular jellyfish for about an hour and we saw it back round quite a few times.

“We’re starting to get a better idea of how these jellyfish live and their ecology and to see that so close on the coast was incredible.

“We need to think about how that jellyfish could possibly benefit at the food chain.

“Off the coast of Cornwall you get leather back turtles this time of year and jellyfish are a perfect food source – so it’s all part of a really important ecosystem really and to see them here – we should absolutely appreciate that.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Giant jellyfish spotted off coast of Cornwall is ‘not a monster from the deep’