WITH THE WEATHER turning colder, it’s unlikely that many people were planning a dip in the Atlantic Ocean this weekend.
However, if you live in the west, there are now two reasons not to go swimming. Or, more accurately, several hundred.
The crew of the Ballyglass RNLI lifeboat sent us these pictures of their boat surrounded by hundreds of jellyfish in Broadhaven Bay.
The jellyfish have been swept here by a combination of winds and currents and they glow in the dark.
Yes, they glow in the dark.
A spokesperson for the Irish Marine Institute explains:
“It is Pelagia noctiluca a jellyfish which is widely distributed throughout temperate and tropical oceans. It is normally an offshore species but can be swept ashore by a combination of winds and currents, sometimes in very large numbers. It is often commonly referred to as the mauve stinger.
As its name suggests (noctiluca) it can phosphoresce (glow) in the dark. Large numbers of it have been reported along the west coast of Ireland recently.
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