Summary

This glass model was made by Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son, Rudolf (1857-1939), highly skilled glass artists based in Dresden, Germany. The Blaschkas are best known for their glass models of plants and marine invertebrates. They were passionate naturalists and based their models on observations and drawings made in the field and in their own purpose-built seawater aquariums. Their painstaking work produced incredibly detailed and scientifically accurate models that still astonish scientists and artists today.

This Blaschka glass model is of a Compass Jellyfish, Chrysaora hysoscella. In life this species has brown elongated V-shaped markings on its translucent yellow-white bell, resembling the face of a compass and giving it its common name. It has 24 tentacles arranged in eight groups of three, all equipped with stinging cells called cnidocytes for capturing prey and defense against predators. This species can be found in coastal waters of the northeast Atlantic.

Specimen Details

Taxonomy