Jellyfish enthusiasts rejoice: Depastrum cyathiforme—a wrinkled, barrel-shaped jelly with tiny tentacles for hair—may not actually be extinct, despite being MIA for nearly 50 years. We can thank tourist Neil Roberts, who accidentally came across the jelly while on holiday in South Uist in Scotland.
This particular stalked jellyfish was much-beloved during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, appearing in exquisite detail in illustrations by famous naturalists. Historical records suggested the jelly had always been rare, but after one last encounter in France in 1976, D. cyathiforme vanished from the watchful eyes of researchers and casual jelly enjoyers. That is, until June 2023, when Roberts visited South Uist for vacation.
“With some trepidation I put my newly purchased camera under the water and took a few photos,” recounted Roberts to British Wildlife editor Guy Freeman. When Roberts returned from vacation, he realized that the critter in his photos closely resembled the pen drawings and watercolors of D. cyathiforme. Further confirmation with experts revealed that indeed, Roberts had rediscovered a creature thought to be extinct for nearly 50 years.
“When Neil first shared the photos, it was like seeing a ghost,” Freeman told The The Guardian. After seeing Roberts’s photos, Freeman led a follow-up search for D. cyathiforme, hoping that the chance encounter wasn’t just a one-off but a real sign that the Scottish Island hosted a stable population of these long-lost jellyfish. To his great joy, the answer seemed to be yes.
“You cannot conserve something if you don’t know where it is, nor even whether it still exists, Freedman wrote in his essay on the rediscovery. He explained that the particular habitat his team uncovered “doesn’t appear to be remarkable in any way—there must be countless similar shores” in the vicinity that could house even more D. cyathiforme, “although we shouldn’t take this for granted…until more records emerge.”
“This is really a remarkable find, and I was so happy to learn about it,” Allen Collins, a stalked jellyfish expert at the Smithsonian Institute, told the Guardian. “We can now be certain that this rarely encountered species persists. I am hoping that more individuals will soon be found.”
According to Freeman, summer is the best time to encounter D. cyathiforme, and they can typically be found on the underside of boulders or on rocks in shaded gullies in pools. Obviously, this isn’t an invitation to pick up every single rock in front of you at a Scottish beach. But continued attention to the presence—and health!—of the jellies’ much-welcomed comeback should help ensure we don’t lose them again.
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