A fisherman feared his boat would break down after sailing into a gigantic bloom of millions of jellyfish stretching a mile.
Daniel Macleod was on his small creel boat with his nine-year-old twin sons, Max and Jake, when they came across the gigantic smack of jellies.
The 37-year-old had planned a spot of handline fishing but quickly changed his mind, as reported by What’s The Jam.
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Daniel, of Dunbeath, Caithness, said: “It was an unreal sitting.
“I’ve never seen anything like it ever before.
“I believe they were moon jellyfish.
“It was like a sea of jellyfish.
“It was just dense and thick.
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“There was no area that there wasn’t a jellyfish to be seen.”
The bloom of jellyfish raised concerns about his boat’s engine.
Because the creel boat draws in seawater to cool the engine, Daniel feared the jellyfish could block the intake and leave the family stranded.
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He said: “When you’re going through a thick cloud of jellyfish like that, it could have blocked the water intake, which would have resulted in an issue calling for help to get us back in.
“So that did go through my mind when I was out there.”
Fortunately, however, the engine continued running without any problems, allowing the family to enjoy the remarkable sight.
The unusual encounter has also made Daniel wonder whether waters were changing.
He said: “There’s something definitely different out there, perhaps the water temperature?”
He pointed to other unusual marine sightings in the area over the past year, including a rare fin whale and a porbeagle shark.
Despite the disruption to the fishing trip and his fears over the boat’s engine, Daniel said he felt lucky to have witnessed the spectacle.
He described it as an “amazing and unforgettable sight.”
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