Thousands of jellyfish spotted off coast of Dorset by fisherman

Thousands of jellyfish in a group “the size of a football pitch” have been spotted off the Dorset coast by a local fisherman.

Chris Hinton shared the images he took at the site near Charmouth on the south coast earlier this week.

“It was an amazing sight and this fluther [the collective name for a group of jellyfish] covered an area of roughly a football pitch,” he told the BBC.

There are thousands of species of jellyfish in the world but only a few are commonly spotted in UK waters, according to the Wildlife Trusts.

Types of the species seen in the UK include compass jellyfish, moon jellyfish, barrel jellyfish, lion’s mane jellyfish, mauve stinger jellyfish, and blue jellyfish.

The moon variety was spotted by Mr Hinton and these are the most common around the UK.

The Wildlife Trusts describes the creatures as: “Around the size of a plate, they are recognisable by the four circles visible through the translucent white bell.

“You can usually see these jellyfish floating just below the surface of the water. Moon jellies have short, delicate tentacles that hang down from the sides of the bell.”

“Remember not to get too close, jellyfish can sting,” the Wildlife Trusts added.

Despite the magnificence of the sight, the presence of so many jellyfish near the UK could be a cause for concern from environmentalists.

BBC meteorologist David Braine said that warmer temperatures are allowing jellyfish to thrive in waters off the UK.

“The increase in the jellyfish population has been attributed to factors including climate change, over fishing and the run-off of agricultural fertilisers,” he said.

“The rise in sea temperature and the elimination of predators such as sharks and tuna has made conditions ideal, and blooms [a collection of jellyfish] are likely to happen much more frequently.”