Thousands of glow in the dark jellyfish have invaded Britain.
The purple creatures, dubbed Mauve Stingers, have washed up on a popular beach. The slippery marine animals are only small but are capable of a powerful sting and glow brightly at night if disturbed.
Hundreds and thousands of them were spotted at Porth Hellick on St Mary’s on the Isles Of Scilly. Photos of the creatures were snapped by Nikki Banfield, 43.
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Nikki, known as The BareFoot Photographer, said: “We get Mauve Stingers fairly regularly in Scilly – but in bulk like this, hundreds of thousands, is not common.
(Image: The BareFoot Photographer / Nikk / SWNS)
“They are really cool but it is also a really sad sight because they are washing up on shore and dying.
“Due to the volume of jellies stranding, they don’t appear to be drying out as quickly, and many of the masses are still moving as a result.”
The marine life is normally found offshore and in warmer European waters including the Mediterranean from July to October.
The jellyfish found off the Cornish coast were around 6-7cm in diameter with thousands of smaller ones washed up in the seaweed and sand.
(Image: The BareFoot Photographer / Nikk / SWNS)
And the snapper said there are a string of reasons why such huge numbers of the species have washed up. “There are many cyclical reasons that go with our ocean temperatures – when there is an abundance of food, jellyfish bloom and breed so quickly. It’s like boom, done,” she said.
“So it could be a sign of something going wrong in our oceans: with global heating, overfishing and climate change – there is decrease in predators for the jellyfish, meaning their numbers will spike.
“But it also means their food source – plankton and microscopic things in the ocean – is clearly there.”
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