PC: Associated Press
Jellyfish have existed for more than 500 million years, predating both dinosaurs and trees, and their lack of a heart or brain only adds to their strange appeal. The animals themselves are acquired through licensed aquaculture partners rather than taken from the wild, a detail confirmed by the city. Experts such as Monty Graham, director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre, have pointed out that jellyfish exhibits have grown steadily in popularity at aquariums worldwide, a trend he traces back to Monterey Bay Aquarium’s pioneering displays in the 1980s and 1990s.
Dimly lit and deliberately calming, the space houses roughly 20 species across 21 tanks, from moon jellyfish to the upside-down jellyfish found in Florida’s own mangroves. Behind it all are Alex and Yana Yanovsky, a couple who once ran thriving aquariums in Ukraine before the 2022 invasion forced them to start again elsewhere. Across 21 separate displays, roughly 20 species rotate through the space, among them Japanese sea nettles, moon jellyfish, spotted jellies and the curious upside-down jellyfish, a species native to Florida’s own mangrove swamps.
A disused bank branch on Florida’s coast has found new life as something rather more unusual than another retail unit or coffee shop. In Pompano Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale, the Jellyfish Museum has opened its doors, and it is believed to be the first museum in the United States built entirely around jellyfish. Their story and the building’s own transformation from bank vault to jellyfish habitat have turned what could have been an empty storefront into one of Florida’s more unexpected new attractions. Step inside and the atmosphere shifts dramatically from the bright Florida sunshine outside. The museum is deliberately kept dim, with light coming mainly from projected imagery on the walls and the soft glow of the tanks themselves.
