Poached egg? No, it's a rare jellyfish that looks just like it should be on your breakfast plate

Amplify’d from www.dailymail.co.uk

For these bizarre fried eggs are actually a peculiar type of jellyfish that has just been successfully born in captivity.

The jellyfish looks like a poached egg that has been dropped into a pan of water. The creature has a very mild sting which has little effect on humans

The odd jellyfish are found naturally in the Mediterranean, because they require a huge amount of sunlight to survive.

A staff member said: 'Breeding is a real challenge because they're only found in far-off ocean fisheries and transportation is so difficult.

'So we have to mimic the natural environment with special daylight lamps to illuminate the aquarium as well as making sure there are lots of meals a day.

'The young jellyfish are tiny, just a few centimetres but they take the egg shape right away - we have to keep them away from the lights at first in case they toast.'

The fried egg jellyfish need lots of sunlight to survive and are hard to breed in captivvity

The fried egg jellyfish, also known as medusa, produce eggs that are fertilised in sea water, which then develop into a tiny larva fixed to sea bed organisms.

They can measure up to 35cm in diameter when fully grown, and in contrast to most jellyfish they move on their own by moving the 'white' of the egg in a waving motion. Read more at www.dailymail.co.uk

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gIK7OF

Related articles

• Interesting Jellyfish Facts (brighthub.com)
• Jellyfish inspire flexible pumps (gizmag.com)
• Home & Office : Jellyfish Touch Color Lamp (thinkgeek.com)
• S.F.: Thousands of dead jellyfish on Ocean Beach (sfgate.com)
• Jellyfish Swarms: Menacing or Misunderstood? (livescience.com)
• What's the point of a poached egg? (ask.metafilter.com)