What are these in the water?

[archman]

http://www.oceanlight.com/lightbox.php?sp=Chrysaora_colorata

ooooo... pretty.

 

[Christina21]

Okay, I took pictures and I guess I exagerrated a bit... sorry... but I will upload the pix as soon as I get a new usb port (today)... I also took a little film clip of one of them moving... and I found a beached dead one. Get back to ya'll shortly

 

[sb_diver]

Hey I've seen those purple stripers while diving before in the Santa Barbara Channel.. do any of you know if they sting bad? I gave them a wide berth just in case.. kinda freaked me out when returning to the boat up the anchor line and seeing 6 of them swimming around the boat, the biggest had a bell that was at least 18 inches across.

On another note, I just did a blue water dive this weekend out about 10 miles from shore on some oil platform mooring buoys, there was a ripping current(over knot and a half) and we saw thousands and thousands of salps and other jellies, those were way cool, don't sting you bad though.

Can't wait to see the photos you took, hopefully it will help us put an end to this mystery.

Thomas

 

[scottfiji]

Hey I've seen those purple stripers while diving before in the Santa Barbara Channel.. do any of you know if they sting bad? I gave them a wide berth just in case.. kinda freaked me out when returning to the boat up the anchor line and seeing 6 of them swimming around the boat, the biggest had a bell that was at least 18 inches across.

On another note, I just did a blue water dive this weekend out about 10 miles from shore on some oil platform mooring buoys, there was a ripping current(over knot and a half) and we saw thousands and thousands of salps and other jellies, those were way cool, don't sting you bad though.

Can't wait to see the photos you took, hopefully it will help us put an end to this mystery.

Thomas

Thousands of jellies and salps, sounds cool! Wish I could have seen them.. btw, I believe salps are pelagic tunicates, which means they have no ability to sting at all.

I swam through a large school of box jellies yesterday in Malibu. Good thing they are not as dangerous as their australian cousins.
http://jellieszone.com/cubozoa.htm

Scott

 

[archman]

I swam through a large school of box jellies yesterday in Malibu. Good thing they are not as dangerous as their australian cousins.
http://jellieszone.com/cubozoa.htm

That weblink highly underrates the danger of C. marsupialis, and needs to be appended This species may not be as potent as Chironex, but it'll still leave nasty lesions and hurt like the dickens. And with kids and high-risk folks, encounters can be fatal.

How'd you fare through the ordeal Scott? Wetsuit and fancy finning kept you safe, I hope?

 

[Christina21]

Sorry it took so long, okay here they are:

http://geocities.com/cr_payne/jellyfish

 

[scottfiji]

That weblink highly underrates the danger of C. marsupialis, and needs to be appended This species may not be as potent as Chironex, but it'll still leave nasty lesions and hurt like the dickens. And with kids and high-risk folks, encounters can be fatal.

How'd you fare through the ordeal Scott? Wetsuit and fancy finning kept you safe, I hope?

Thanks for the heads up.

yeah, I figured they probably gave out a nasty sting. Luckily, the school was very spread out. I'd see 2 here, nothing for a minute, then 3 more, then nothing for a minute, and so on. This went on for about 10 minutes. I just kept moving straight and kept my eyes peeled, because they are hard to see. Luckily the water was fairly clear, so they were easy to spot once they were close by. I had a 7mm wetsuit and hood that covered almost all of my body except a little of my face. They're cute little guys though.

I was underwater, at 20-22 feet depth, and they were right there at my depth hanging out with me.

 

[Christina21]

If that doesn't work go to my member page, i uploaded a photo to this site

Christina21

 

[Christina21]

:book2: Also I just read that jellies hardly move on their own, but this one definately moves on its own

If anyone wants to see a video clip of that (like 8 seconds) let me know and I can e-mail it... I think, I don't know of a place I can upload it... Thanks All!!!

 

[sapphire]

Sorry it took so long, okay here they are:

http://geocities.com/cr_payne/jellyfish

Those are pretty! I can't wait until the experts here tell us what they are...