Jellyfish have been floating about in the seas for about 500 million years. Let's put this in perspective: the Jurassic period began about 200 million years ago and you all know what was going on then.

This is an Aurelia Aurita- known as a moon jellyfish because from a distance it takes on lunar qualities. It changes colour depending on the creature it has just ingested. The one above was 4 foot long and washed up on a beach in Devon, England two years ago.


They have clusters of eyes which they use to filter light.

                      They don't swim but are propelled by the currents of the sea.

I'm quite interested in the cultural status of the jellyfish. What would Roland Barthes have said of them? What do they signify? Childhood? Frivolity? Absurdity?