This is the story of the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii, a species discovered and described, new to science, in Regents Park, London, in 1880. A native of China it has, since then, been recorded in hundreds of non-native locations, not just in Britain but all over the world, successfully colonising every continent apart from Antarctica.
Too little attention has been paid to freshwater jellies and their presence in Britain, Jonathan Briggs works to redress this in an account of their discovery and distribution, fascinating bi-phasic life cycle and their genetic lines.