Jellyfish spotted in Venice canals during coronavirus lockdown

As Italians isolate amid the coronavirus pandemic, Venice’s newly-clear canals have allowed its formerly hidden species to flourish.

Jellyfish are making a splash after being spotted gliding about the pristine waterways on Easter in a viral video. The 45-second clip shows the translucent orange sea creature swimming along a canal so clear that the reflections of the nearby palaces are visible in the water.

“I was able to film a jellyfish that was swimming close to the San Marco square, only [a] few inches below the water surface,” biologist Andrea Mangoni told Reuters.

Mangoni adds that the lack of boat traffic caused by the coronavirus quarantine has allowed people to observe marine critters right in the city center.

Attilio Rinaldi, a biology professor at Italy’s University of Bologna, postulates that the sea jelly entered the Venetian canals through tidal flows that connect the lagoon to the upper Adriatic where it typically lives.

Unfortunately, while Venice’s mirror-like canals have made animal life more visible, they aren’t necessarily any cleaner.

“The low turbidity of the water does not mean cleanliness,” says Pierpaolo Campostrini, the managing director for Consortium for Managing Research Activities in the Venice Lagoon. Instead, he attributes the transparency to an “absence of sediment resuspension.”

Animals around the globe are reclaiming space occupied by humans pre-lockdown. Most recently, lions were spotted lounging on roads in South Africa and goats have reconquered the now-derelict streets of Wales.