Have you ever seen an upside-down jellyfish?
This strange-looking species is no anemone! The “Upside-down Jellyfish” likes shallow and warm waters and is easily spotted at the bottom of the lagoon seagrass meadows.
Compared to most species of jellyfish it is upside-down, that is to say the bell is underneath and acts like a suction cup to stabilise it on the mobile seabed.
The Mangrove Cassiopea (Cassiopea xamachana) is a benthic jellyfish, which means it lives in “the depths”, from the Ancient Greek word bénthos, at the lowest level of the lagoon or sediment surface.
Finally, the species’ name refers back to the Ancient Greek myth of the boastful Queen Cassiopeia who, punished by the Gods, was forced to circle the Northern hemisphere upside down…