Moon jelly and an aggregation of stingless golden jellyfish in a landlocked marine lake, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia
© Alex Mustard/Minden Picture
Sunshine on a moon jelly. World Jellyfish Day
Today we're celebrating World Jellyfish Day – even though these creatures are best described as otherworldly. Despite their alien qualities (not to mention their inability to vocalise), jellyfish have a lot to say to us about the history of life on Earth.
For example, species like the moon jelly and smaller golden jellies in our picture possess primitive eyes that only detect the presence of light, like the nourishing sunbeams they're chasing here. But some of their cousins, like the box jellyfish, boast several complex eyes with corneas and retinas. These differences help biologists understand how the human eye evolved to process such dazzling spectacles as the jellyfish's delicate dance.
Related Images
Bluespotted ribbontail ray near Perth, Australia
Oyster farm offshore from Notojima Island, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Dr. Sylvia Earle explores the Great Barrier Reef in a scene from 'Mission Blue'
Spanish shawl nudibranch on kelp off Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA
Glass octopus in the Atlantic Ocean off Cabo Verde
Dragonfly fossil, about 150 million years old, in Solnhofen, Bavaria, Germany
Golden jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake on the island of Eil Malk, Palau
Common octopus in sea grass off the coast of France in the Gulf of Lion in the Mediterranean Sea
Bing Today Images
Jellyfish swimming in the Pacific, Guerrero, Mexico
Nov 03, 2025
Jal Mahaal water palace at lake Man Sagar, Jaipur
Nov 03, 2020
American bison in Antelope Island State Park, Utah
Nov 03, 2018
