Jellyfish

[StuartR]

I understand that these are quite common off the UK coast, but I have never seen one before. I was only just quick enough to get this photo, no time to frame the shot properly.

[HansV]

Nice! They're quite common near the coast here. When the wind is easterly in summer, usually causing warm weather, they abound just off the shore, stinging swimmers...

[ChrisGreaves]

I understand that these are quite common off the UK coast, but I have never seen one before.

Stuart, if you pick the right river, there will be no need to go to the seaside; the jelly fish will come to you!
Governor Stirling Senior High School at West Midland offered jelly fish when the tide was right. We would dive in amongst them on Wednesday afternoons.

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Google says that the straight-line distance is 30Km, but the fish must have covered something like 45+ to reach us. The Swan meanders within its meanders, there are many sand spits (Point Walter is the first example). Most of that big-blue expanse of river is only about knee deep on an adult.
We never saw Jelly fish 4 miles upstream at Swanleigh.
But then I hated being at Swanleigh, so maybe the fish felt the same way.
Cheers
Chris

[BobH]

They are quite common on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the US. Sometimes the Portuguese man-of-war can be found. I once saw a beach covered with them after high tide.

[StuartR]

Thank you all for sharing, I am now much less ignorant than I was

[John Gray]

When I used to swim in the sea on the beach in Dover a few decades ago it wasn't surprising to come across the odd semi-transparent but fairly small jellyfish. If you bumped into one they would sting a bit, but not disastrously so.
I believe Portuguese 'men of war' were talked of in hushed tones, but I don't remember anyone who had actually seen one in the vicinity.

[kdock]

Hard to say, but it looks like a Moon Jelly, which are indeed found off the coast in your neck of the woods. Moon Jellies are also found in abundance off Pt Lobos near PG in California, as well as much of the southern coast.

IF it's a Moon Jelly, they don't sting. Here's a photo on flikr by Jim Patterson taken in Bluefish Cove (and I do mean "in") called "Moon Jelly Eclipse."

K

[StuartR]

Hard to say, but it looks like a Moon Jelly

I'm pretty sure this was a Blue jellyfish, which does sting!