Mauve Stinger bioluminescence

Thanks to John Cameron for bringing in these jellyfish which he subsequently released. He had been watching these jellyfish with Ethan Maceachern, who was fishing at the slipway in Bowmore with his Dad Robert around 8.30pm on Sunday and they observed them 'glow in the dark'. I was very interested to hear his story because Lorna and I had spent some time trying to 'rescue' numbers of this jellyfish on Tiree which had been or were being washed up.

They are known as Mauve Stingers or 'Nightlight' Jellyfish because of two properties they possess: one - a painful sting, not only in their 8 tentacles, but also in their speckles, two - because of their ability to glow in the dark by producing luminous mucus from surface cells when they are knocked or disturbed by waves. This jellyfish can grow up to 10 cm in diameter and is very variable in colour. It can be stranded in great numbers on beaches, as observed by Lorna and I on Tiree.
Becky

Mauve Stinger (Pelagia noctiluca)