The glass model of the Agalmopsis elegans jellyfish.

Deep sea pirates made of luminous glass

The specialist Otto Schott Institute at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena has been developing fluorescent glass for designer and glass artist Susan Liebold since 2007. The glass is mixed with various rare earth metals to achieve a lasting fluorescence and color of a kind that was previously only known in the animal world. The artist from Thuringia has now completed her first work based on a natural template and has made a custom jellyfish for the OZEANEUM that is partly made of glass and glows when hit with UV light.

These slender jellyfish can rarely be taken from the sea in one piece. The search for visual aids has proved equally difficult. Even if the gelatinous bodies of these animals make their way to the surface in fishing nets, all that remains of these graceful creatures is unsightly lumps and shreds. Only two conserved colonies were available to be used as a template, and they were only a few centimeters long. Even at this early stage of development, the organs of these animals have already developed and historical drawings and the most recent deep-water photographs were used alongside the preserved specimen in designing the model. From a craft perspective, the bell masses were the most difficult to create. The male and female sexual organs and the memory polyps that wind around in a ganglion-like structure protected by an incredibly thin yet strong layer of skin also had to be created. The luminous tentacles attract small fish or squid, which are then stunned by nematocysts and then passed from the tentacles to the feeding polyps.

Extreme caution was required to transport the model. The model, which is comprised of a total of around 2,600 interconnected filigree glass parts, weighs 12 kilograms and was transported to Stralsund largely assembled and freely suspended in the trunk of a car. It now welcomes visitors who have come to tour the OZEANEUM.