A pink jelly you don’t want on your plate

This past weekend articles about the above creature, Apolemia Uvaria, or the string of pearls jelly appeared in several British newspapers. It seems the south coast is experiencing a rare bloom of these bizarre animals, previously unknown to many of the places it has been turning up. It isn’t actually a jellyfish – it’s a beautiful colony of 1 cm long siphonophores that packs a nasty punch – with sticky tentacles each equipped with wasp like venom, a length of up to 30 metres and a habit of wrapping itself around unlucky prey, its not the kind of beastie you want to encounter while swimming.

I was especially thrilled to see this picture though, because I met one up close and personal whilst holidaying in the Isles of Scilly this September. Out snorkelling for the last time that holiday, I had noticed a particularly florid bloom of plankton in the clear still water. Cold and tired from swimming and with a troublesome leaky pair of goggles I was about to call it a day when I glimpsed, in less than six feet of water, a fabulous tentacled rope of glowing baby and salmon pink. The colour was extraordinary, almost glowing from within. I had absolutely no idea what it was but it was big – I would say up to two metres in length if stretched out fully – and I decided it would be for the best to not go too close. I hauled myself out onto a rock and fixed up my goggles to have a proper look and after a little searching, there it was, coiling and uncoiling somewhat menacingly in the current. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything so otherworldly, and actually if I have it was swimming off that same cove where I’ve been lucky enough to spot sea spiders and crab and lobster larvae in the past.

I’ve spent nearly three months since trying to discover what this creature might be. Field guides showed me nothing even remotely like it, my biologist and ecologist friends all scratched their heads over my description and came up with nothing. I had no idea where else to look. I was coming round to the idea that it might be some kind of hydroid colony  but that was as far as I’d got, and I was starting to wonder if I hadn’t imagined the whole thing. Then my grinning partner showed me the picture in the Friday edition of the Metro saying “as soon as I saw this I knew it was your sea creature”

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