Over the weekend I went to the beach. The North Sea is too cold for me to swim: I prefer to walk along the shoreline and get into the water when I’m hot.
While walking, I noticed so many jellyfish on the shore. Going closer to the sea, I could see also many jellyfish floating. They did not seem to swim, but just to be carried by the current, almost relying on it. I touched a floating one, and it did not sting.
I wondered whether they were all dead, tricked by the tide of the North Sea. They kept floating in the shallow water, too close to the shore, until the ebb tide left them on the sand.
It is hard to imagine now the world is perceived by a jellyfish.
I read jellyfish don’t have brains but do have nerves to detect the environment around them.
Without a brain, they are not conscious and they don’t know they exist. I can imagine they perceive the warmth of the water, the brightness of the sun, and not much else. Do they perceive water as wet? Or do they just perceive the dryness of their surrounding once they find themselves on the shore? Sand must feel horribly coarse compared to the smoothness of water.
Being made of water themselves, jellyfish don’t last long when they are stranded.
The ones on the shores had a funny, squishy texture, much like a natural fidget toy. Who knows, maybe jellyfish on a shore inspired the very first stress-release ball.
Giulia Gallini 