Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Juli Berwald, Ph.D. is a science writer who authored Spineless, a book about jellyfish, as well as textbooks and popular science articles for National Geographic Magazine, Oceanus, Redbook, and Wired.com.

Dr. Berwald’s engaging and entertaining style is evident in her blog: Fried Eggs In Spain is a recent report from the Jellyfish Blooms Symposium recently held in Spain.

For more information about her latest book Spineless, visit here. As the good doctor introduces jellyfish, “Love them, loathe them, or carefully step over them on the beach, jellyfish are an iconic animal of our time–you just may not know it yet.

These slimy overlooked, animals own a slew of superlatives: longest animal (exceeding the stretch of a blue whale); most toxic venom (can kill you in three minutes); oldest animal (over 600 million years); and first to lift off the seafloor and swim. They are also undeniably beguiling, holding a deep silence within us as we gaze at their primitive undulations.”

But ocean swimmers around the world know very well how much of a punch jellyfish have upon contact.

Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association