‘An incredible moment’: Giant jellyfish captured on camera swimming with diver off Cornwall coast
A huge jellyfish as big as an adult human has been photographed off the coast of Cornwall.
The barrel jellyfish was captured on camera by an underwater cameraman near Falmouth on Saturday.
The animal, thought to be 1.5m long and at least 0.5m in diameter, was spotted at the end of a nationwide wildlife tour.
Wild Ocean Week was created by biologist and broadcaster Lizzie Daly, a presenter at BBC Earth Unplugged, to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society.
Alongside underwater cameraman and cinematographer Dan Abbott, they toured Britain to showcase its wildlife, encountering seals, minke whales and seabirds along the way.
But it wasn’t until the end of their adventure, in Cornwall, that they encountered the humungous highlight of their trip.
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They came across the massive jellyfish just off the shore of Falmouth.
“The purpose of the trip was to fundraise but also to show people there’s an array of wildlife on your doorstep,” Mr Abbott told Yahoo News UK.
Woah!!!!! We went diving in Falmouth yesterday to finish off #WildOceanWeek and came across this GIANT barrel jellyfish! 😱 What a way to finish off this marine wildlife adventure! 💙 pic.twitter.com/NNwDelfWyV
— Lizzie Daly (@LizzieRDaly) July 14, 2019
“We saw the jellyfish just a couple of hundred feet from the shore.
“It was an incredible moment. Both our minds were completely blown by it.
“It was the same size as Lizzie.”
He added: "It's the biggest jellyfish I've ever seen, in some ways I was shocked but not in a negative way, more awestruck.
"It was an incredible animal, we both came out the water completely mindblown from that experience."
The pair had previously swam with grey seals off the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, minke whales off the north west coast of Scotland, and seabirds off Wales.
To donate money to the Marine Conservation Society through Wild Ocean Week, click here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WildOceanWeek
