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Long chain jellies

Description and Comments

Chains up to a metre, made up of many joined nodules, each quite firm to feel. As the nodules became larger the chains seemed to break up into smaller segments. They appeared slightly fluorescent, with a bluish centre to each nodule. There were thousands of them. I would like to know the species.

Author

mobile_jellywatcher

Type of organism

Other
Salp

Quantity

100

Latitude

-43.45

Longitude

147.16

Comments

jellywatch Wed, 02/19/2014 - 10:23

Thanks a lot for the report.
These are salps. Not sure of the species, but possibly Salpa fusiformis. They are interesting animals: they filter-feed on small phytoplankton (and even smaller microbes). They are also near relatives of Chordates (like us). Their bluish color is *not* actually fluorescence. You can read more here: http://jellieszone.com/pelagic-tunicates/