Lion's Mane Surfacing in Hood Canal
Description and Comments
June 15 & 16 in Hood Canal, viewed from the dock at Alderbrook Resort, I noticed a very strange thing (to me, and I'm no expert). There were a number of Lion's Mane jellyfish that came out during the evening, just after sunset, and surfaced repeatedly. They would propel themselves toward the surface, push the tops of their bells *above* the water, and then go back under. They would proceed sideways for a beat, then surface again.
It was near the shore (right off the dock) and I only saw them doing this right after sunset. I have a photo attached; I'm afraid it's color-enhanced with a vivid camera setting (so I could see the details better, it was a little murky out).
No idea whether this is normal behavior, I know very little about jellyfish and certainly didn't find any allusions to this type of behavior on the web. So I thought I'd report it. :) Feel free to contact me with questions if this really is weird behavior, and if it's not, well, cool! I'm glad I got to see it, and wonder what on earth they were doing?
We also discovered something the local dockworker called a "sea gooseberry" on the dock (tossed the poor things back into the water, of course), and saw some very pretty ...er, maybe water jellies? :)