Giant jellyfish takes a swim with new diver friend, goes viral

Exactly what lurks beneath the ocean? Well, off the coast of Cornwall, giant, apricot-coloured jellyfish.

The incredible creature, known as a barrel jellyfish, has been captured in a now-viral photograph taken near Falmouth, a town on the coast of Cornwall in southwest England.

An undeniably stunning moment beneath the waves, the image was taken by underwater cinematographer Dan Abbott. It depicts diver, wildlife biologist, and BBC Earth presenter Lizzie Daly swimming beside an enormous barrel jellyfish — the largest species in the UK.

Barrel jellyfish are considered "common" conservation-wise, but that doesn't mean you'll see them every day (or that they're anywhere near safe from the effects of human-induced climate change). These unusually large jellyfish have eight frilled arms covered in tiny, relatively-harmless-to-humans stinging tentacles, can grow up to 90 centimetres (35 inches) across and can weigh up to 35 kilograms (77 pounds).

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Daly was filming her dive with the jellyfish for her own project called Wild Ocean Week, a seven-day awareness campaign in which she celebrates oceans, documents related conservation issues, and raises funds for UK not-for-profit The Marine Conservation Society. 

Daly's activities, which were documented in daily Facebook videos, also included swimming with seals in the Farne Islands, hanging out with seabirds in the Bempton Cliffs nature reserve, and feeding minke whales in Scotland.

Here's Daly's episode with the barrel jellyfish, in which you can see how majestic and large this creature truly is.

Not your average jellyfish, huh?

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