Spotted Jellyfish Drifting Against Black Water

A large jellyfish fills the right side of the frame, its smooth, pale blue bell shaded with a band of orange near the rim. The lower edge of the bell is covered in a pattern of small, raised white spots. Beneath it, frilled blue and white oral arms hang in soft folds. A second, much smaller jellyfish floats faint and out of focus at the left edge. The background is pure black, so both animals seem to glow in the dark, and the mood is quiet and still.

Jellyfish are soft-bodied animals that move by pulsing their bells, and they rely largely on currents to carry them along. Many species with frilled arms like these feed on plankton and other tiny prey, which they trap and pass toward many small mouth openings. Corpus Christi Bay, on the Texas Gulf coast, is a shallow, sheltered bay, and jellyfish numbers there have risen over the years, according to the photo's caption. The square format and deep black background suit phone lock screens and OLED displays, where the black fades into the bezel and the bell appears to float.

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