The Blaschka Collection 

In the first shipment of Blaschka to Canterbury Museum, “The Portuguese man-of-war appears in its true colours, and like the other specimens, resembles nature so closely as to be deceptive” (Press, 27 October 1883).

Their name refers to their resemblance to a Portuguese sailing warship from the 18th Century.

Although related to true jellyfish, the Portuguese man-of-war are in fact not a single organism as they appear, but are a colonial organism made up of numerous individual organisms called zooids.

The top section of the man-of-war acts as both a flotation aid and sail. They move through the ocean using both the currents and wind to propel them. Amazingly, they are either left- or right- ‘handed’ when it comes to the curve of their sail. Their tentacles which hang in the water below can reach 10 metres in length and are great for catching small crustaceans and fish to eat.

This species was originally named Zygodactyla crassa and it is separated from its closest relatives by the presence of warty bumps running in radiating ridges on its bell, giving it the common name of the many-ribbed jellyfish. Its bell can reach up to 40cm in width and its other common names include the crystal jelly and water jelly.

Like the Portuguese man-of-war, it is not in fact a true jellyfish but a relative of them. Its body is also made up of many individual colonial organisms.

The pale-yellow colour seen in the Blaschka model here is a true representation of their scientific description and comes from their gonads (reproductive organs) although this colour can vary by sex.

Found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate oceans, these octopuses live in open ocean water (pelagic zone). They are most well known for their distinctive white curved nautilus shell which is used as a buoyance device and a place for storing eggs. The difference in size between males and females is dramatic, males only grow up to approximately 2 cm in length whereas females can be more than 10 times this size. These octopuses will attach themselves to jellyfish using them for protection from predators, as a mode of transport, and a food source partially consuming them and the food the jellyfish collects.

It is easy to see how the moon jellyfish got its name when looking at this model. Their outer bell can reach up to 45cm in width.

Their bodies are mostly white or colourless, but any colour they do have comes from their crescent-shaped gonads (reproductive organs) located at the top of their bell. You can see this Blaschka moon jellyfish has been given red-pink coloured gonads.

Their fine short tentacles hanging like a skirt around the edge of their bell sting and paralyse their prey which are then moved up to their moth using their much larger frilly tentacles.

Moon jellies can form ‘jellyfish blooms’ where immense numbers are found in an area of ocean. These are thought to have become more common recently in part due to some of their main predators being endangered, including turtles and sharks.

Incredibly, it has been discovered that these jellyfish can reverse-age, returning to earlier life cycle stages.

Siphonophores are colonies of complex individual working parts called 'zooids', which stay connected as they grow. Each part has its own specialized job in the colony, such as feeding, reproduction and swimming. All work to the benefit of the collective, as individual zooids cannot survive alone.

The Hula Skirt siphonophore lives in the deep ocean, where there is no light other than those emitted by organisms. 

The top of the float is shaped like bells stacked on each other. The bottom of the float has a gas emitting pore which is used to control the buoyancy. The colourful tentacles are arranged like a skirt, and are used to catch plankton.

Meet the free-swimming sea slug of the open ocean, more commonly referred to as the sea cherub or sea angel. Unlike most sea slugs which move along the ocean floor, this species uses two winglike lobes for swimming. These animals are ferocious predators able to grab their prey with a long proboscis covered in hooks and teeth. They commonly prey on sea butterflies (a type of swimming sea snail).

Commonly known as the compass jellyfish, this name was given because the brown markings on the bell of the jellyfish resemble the face of a compass. Otherwise, their bell is translucent and yellow white in colour and can be up to 25 cm in diameter. The four larger ‘tentacles’ called oral arms are used for feeding while the other more slender tentacles contain stinging cells disabling prey and for defence against predators such as sunfish and leatherback turtles.

Although not evident in this model, in life these jellyfish are often distinctly purple in colour. Its common names include the mauve stinger and the night-light jellyfish referring to its ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found around the world in warm ocean waters and only grows to around 12 cm in diameter making it a relatively small jellyfish species.

Meet Melibe viridis, a species of carnivorous nudibranch with an oddly shaped body. Unlike other nudibranch, this group lacks a radula (rasping tongue used for feeding) and instead have an oral hood for a mouth. To feed on small crustaceans, this nudibranch will expand its hood out like a fisherman casting a fishing net before bringing it back in with its bounty firmly encased in its jaws. Imagine the game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, but a sea slug version!

Barrel jellyfish are considered giants in the jellyfish world, with larger specimens reaching up to 150 cm in size! They have a large white mushroom shaped bell which gives them their other name, the dustbin-lid jellyfish. They have eight arms covered in frills and tiny openings, through which they filter their food into their body.

They are abundant in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean seas. During the warmer months, they swarm together in coastal waters (known as blooms), often washing up on beaches. The favourite food of the barrel jellyfish is plankton, while they in turn are the favourite meal of leatherback turtles.

The sandy creeplet is a colonial sea anemone found around the coast of Britain, Ireland, France, and Spain. They have up to 32 translucent tentacles each with a bright white rounded tip which can be retract so they become almost invisible when disturbed. These anemones can be found attached to rocks and shells, sometimes in large masses and their bodies are sometimes coated in a layer of sand.

This species of nudibranch can exist in various colour forms, ranging from black as an adult and pink or orange as a juvenile. They are extremely common in the intertidal zone, living under rocks of shallow sandy pools. They are spread throughout the world in warm and temperate waters except off the coasts of tropical America. They can grow between 4 to 7 cm in length.