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We regularly post short Marine Wildlife Videos an Photographs with a short explanation regarding the subject and the technique used to capture the image.

All videos are made by Olivier Van den Broeck using Light & Motion video lights

and all photographs are by Greet Meulepas unless stated otherwise.

83. Space Invaders (Comb Jellies)





Subject: A bloom of Comb Jellies drifts by underneath the water surface. These free-floating Ctenophores are not Jellyfishes and do not sting. Their limited locomotion is generated by eight rows of hair-cilia that beat in coordinated waves. These strokes also generate iridescent light waves (iridescent light =is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes, like in soap bubbles).


Technique: The alien appearance of these primitive animals reminded me of a sentence in the song "Eve of the War", the opening piece from the British 1978 album, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds; “The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said… but still, they come.” I thought it was a very good match with the thousands of jellies drifting by over our head while performing a safety stop at the end of our dive.


Discover the beauty beneath the surface with our online Marine Wildlife Videography course!

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