Jellyfish

Wellington Harbour the day after Trump's election

Walked along the Wellington waterfront this morning. It was still, calm, misty, warm and somewhat womb-like. You could see several metres down into the water.

Swimming slowly near the wharf was the largest jellyfish I've ever seen. Its orange crown was 25-30cm across and below that was a dense mass. In the water around it were what to my untrained eye appeared to be hundreds of its spawn. They were almost transparent but with a small opaque centres. They were elongated, a few cm long, and some were joined in trains of 10 or so and swimming with a snake-like motion. There was a trail of them close in for some distance along the waterfront.

It was all rather beautiful and entrancing. Alas my attempt at photography with my phone was unproductive. Here's a couple of seconds of video.

I wrote this as something of a respite from last night's US election result, but now I am struck by the thought of this jellyfish being approximately the same colour and size as Donald Trump's head. Dammit!