Juvenile Hydromedusae ?
Jul 17, 2026 • 12:46 PM UTC
United Kingdom
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Animals
Enrico Piperno
PhD Candidate at Stanford University building next-generation microscopes.
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I am bikepacking in Scotland and brought my foldscope with me to North Berwick. In a small tide pool, I found this floating jelly.
I described it to some AI tools, and I think it may have been a juvenile hydromedusae. It was about 1cm in size, totally clear except for a brown central portion, and two tentacles trailing from its upper body.
I used a 50X lens to investigate the central portion, which I think is the gastrovescular cavity. Jellyfish do not have blood, but rather water, oxygen, and nutrients simply diffuse directly through their cell walls from the surrounding water. The gastrovescular cavity serves as both its stomach and circulatory system. It has a single opening that acts as both the mouth for ingesting prey and the anus for expelling waste. Inside the cavity, digestive enzymes break down food, and nutrients are distributed throughout the gelatinous body via a network of canals.
In the video posted below, I took a timelapse of the structure and you could see some larger food particles or food waste flowing across the structure. You can clearly see the network of canals.
I described it to some AI tools, and I think it may have been a juvenile hydromedusae. It was about 1cm in size, totally clear except for a brown central portion, and two tentacles trailing from its upper body.
I used a 50X lens to investigate the central portion, which I think is the gastrovescular cavity. Jellyfish do not have blood, but rather water, oxygen, and nutrients simply diffuse directly through their cell walls from the surrounding water. The gastrovescular cavity serves as both its stomach and circulatory system. It has a single opening that acts as both the mouth for ingesting prey and the anus for expelling waste. Inside the cavity, digestive enzymes break down food, and nutrients are distributed throughout the gelatinous body via a network of canals.
In the video posted below, I took a timelapse of the structure and you could see some larger food particles or food waste flowing across the structure. You can clearly see the network of canals.
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