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Jellyfish 'as big as adult human' captured swimming with diver

A huge jellyfish as big as an adult human has been photographed off the coast of Cornwall in England.

The barrel jellyfish was captured on camera by an underwater cameraman near Falmouth on Saturday.

The animal, thought to be 1.5m long and at least 0.5m in diameter, was spotted at the end of a nationwide wildlife tour.

Wild Ocean Week was created by biologist and broadcaster Lizzie Daly, a presenter at BBC Earth Unplugged, to raise money for the Marine Conservation Society.

Giant barrel jellyfish seen in waters off Cornwall. Pictured with diver, Lizzie Daly. Source: Dan Abbott
The huge jellyfish was found off the coast of Cornwall. Pictured with diver, Lizzie Daly. Source: Dan Abbott

Alongside underwater cameraman and cinematographer Dan Abbott, they toured Britain to showcase its wildlife, encountering seals, minke whales and seabirds along the way.

But it wasn’t until the end of their adventure, in Cornwall, that they encountered the humungous highlight of their trip.

They came across the massive jellyfish just off the shore of Falmouth.

“The purpose of the trip was to fundraise but also to show people there’s an array of wildlife on your doorstep,” Mr Abbott told Yahoo News UK.

“We saw the jellyfish just a couple of hundred feet from the shore.

“It was an incredible moment. Both our minds were completely blown by it.

“It was the same size as Lizzie.”

He added: "It's the biggest jellyfish I've ever seen, in some ways I was shocked but not in a negative way, more awestruck.

"It was an incredible animal, we both came out the water completely mindblown from that experience."

The pair had previously swam with grey seals off the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, minke whales off the north west coast of Scotland, and seabirds off Wales.

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