Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.   SUBSCRIBE
The Kid Should See This

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s LIVE Jelly Cams

Watch more with these video collections:

From 7am to 7pm Pacific time, the Monterey Bay Aquarium team operates two live sea jelly cams of two phenomental looking ‘jellyfish’ species. The first cam is of these greater Pacific moon jellies (Aurelia labiata). From the video notes:

The several species of moon jellies are common throughout the global ocean. The greater Pacific moon jelly is a seasonal visitor to Monterey Bay, and it can be distinguished by its clear bell, four horseshoe-shaped gonads that are purple or pink when gravid, and a fine mesh of stinging tentacles they use to catch planktonic prey. At the Aquarium, different foods affect their coloration; if they feed extensively on crustaceans, they’ll turn pink or lavender. An orange tint hints that they’ve been feeding on brine shrimp.

moon jelly cam
When the cams are not on, previously recorded hours are still available within the video. Click earlier within the video to watch.

Below, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s live cam for their sea nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) exhibit:

Watch as their long tentacles and lacey mouth-arms move smoothly through the water. But don’t let these unassuming invertebrates fool you—their graceful trailing parts are covered in stinging cells used for hunting. When their tentacles touch tiny drifting prey, the stinging cells paralyze it and stick tight. The prey is moved to the mouth-arms and then to the mouth, where it’s digested.

sea nettles
Next: A swarm of hungry moon jellies in Alaska and this human-sized barrel jellyfish near Cornwall.

Plus: More excellent videos from Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cornell Lab’s Great Horned Owl Live Cam, and more sea jellies.

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

🌈 Watch these videos next...

Wild views from a Minnesota beaver dam cam

Rion Nakaya

What do cats do all day?

Rion Nakaya

Un albero un anno (One tree one year)

Rion Nakaya

Tracking Los Angeles mountain lions with camera traps

Rion Nakaya

Three quarters of deep-sea animals are bioluminescent

Rion Nakaya

This unidentified jellyfish has ‘gobsmacked’ a jellyfish expert

Rion Nakaya

There’s no such thing as a jellyfish

Rion Nakaya

The secret belowground life of newborn meerkat pups

Rion Nakaya

The Quest for Sea Ice: Swimming with polar bears and a camera

Rion Nakaya