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Here is a picture of the time depth recorders (TDRs) attached to small floats that we will be attaching to Rhizostoma and Lion's Mane Jellyfish this year. These will hopefully wash up along the coast of Wales or the east coast of Ireland sometime over the next year so make sure you keep an eye out and get in touch when you see one.
It's often assumed that jellyfish coming to our shores are exotic species from far away but that’s not the case. Jellyfish have been largely ignored by scientists, which has led to these wild assumptions. In fact, they inhabit particular habitats and we want to know more about how they use their environment, how long lived they are and how they use the water column; theirs is effectively a vertical migration through different depths of water. These short migrations within a habitat are as important as long distance migration. Also, jellyfish are very important as they play a major role in marine systems. For example, we’ve found most Leatherback Turtle gatherings, in some of these bays in the Irish Sea, directly linked to these jellyfish.
We’ll be starting to tag the jellyfish later in July. The two different species are Lion's Mane Jellyfish and Rhizostoma – the Barrel Jellyfish. These species are found in certain areas of water in the Irish Sea: Carmarthen Bay in North Wales, Rosslare and Dublin on the Irish coast. The tags will float off after the jellyfish dies and hopefully wash up along the coast of Wales or the east coast of Ireland sometime over the next year.
Further Reading:
Next report: Saving Green Turtles
Previous report: How do Turtles navigate?
Irish Sea Leatherback Turtle Project
Marine Conservation Society Jellyfish survey