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Hornby's jellyfish






On our recent visit to Hornby Island, we were amazed by how many jellyfish were on the beaches and rocks. They had beautiful and rich coloured patterns, were mostly around 15" across, though one was about 20". We think they are the Lion's Mane jellyfish. Note the crab inside the third one. The last photo shows a small one in a tidal pool, I don't know if it's the same species.
Marja-Leena | 24/09/2009 | 18 comments
themes: Canada and BC, Nature, Photoworks

Comments
Scary looking! But yes, beautiful colors. I guess nobody walks around barefoot. :-)
The aquarium in Boston had a great display of jellyfish when I was last there - glow in the dark kinds. Amazing beasties.
Posted by: leslee | 04:54 25 September 2009
It's looking at you vindictively. I wouldn't go back if I were you.
Posted by: Barrett Bonden | 10:19 25 September 2009
Leslee, they are more scary in the water where their sting is painful. I think the ones on the beaches and rocks are dying, though I still wouldn't want to step on them in bare feet.
BB, heh, the poor things were probably more scared of me, than I of them! I didn't go swimming ('twas too cold for me) but I'd be very afraid of them in the water. Hornby Island firmly remains as one of my very favourite places.
Posted by: marja-leena | 15:47 25 September 2009
Interesting symetry.A lion's mane in the sea is an curious thought. They are impressive creatures. I imagine they are more beautiful in the water.
Posted by: Joe Hyam | 09:30 26 September 2009
A crab inside a jellyfish?
Inside?
How did that happen?
I am intrigued
and rather alarmed
Could such a fate befall a dog, a cat, a small woman?
I wonder how it feels to be inside a jellyfish
There are some days when I think I understand how that must be!
Posted by: Mouse | 10:30 26 September 2009
Joe, the naming is indeed curious and almost mythical, isn't it? I wonder if these look more transparent and whitish is the water, so easy to miss, the kind I've sometimes seen.
Hi Mouse, great to have you here! Heh, imagine absorbing something as large as you mention! That smothered feeling would be hard to handle. I wondered if the jellyfish is eating the crab, or is it the other way around?
Posted by: marja-leena | 12:04 26 September 2009
all that glistening wobbly stuff...amazing. I feel a bit like that myself at the moment
Posted by: rosie | 12:34 26 September 2009
Rosie, you feeling glistening and wobbly? Noooo....
Posted by: marja-leena | 16:58 26 September 2009
I especially like the photo of the jelly in the tidal pool. Looks like the sea is looking back at you...so wonderful and spooky at the same time.
Would make a good opening photo for a science-fiction movie.
:)
Posted by: Martha McLemore | 17:53 26 September 2009
oh of course
the crab could be eating the jellyfish!
that makes me feel happier, I'd rather be crunched by a crab than juicified by a jellyfsh
although the latter would be more spectacular
Posted by: Mouse | 18:04 26 September 2009
The picture were interesting enough that I had to investigate the Lion's Mane Jellyfish. Were you aware it's the largest jellyfish known? They inhabit the cold northern oceans and in 1870, one that washed ashore on Massachusetts Bay had a bell diameter of 7 feet and 6 inches with tentacles measuring 120 feet. Yow. They are pretty though.
The worrisome thing about jellyfish is that huge swarms of them have been coming ashore in places where they're not generally seen - the coast of Spain, for instance most recently. Scientists seem to think that a combination of warmer ocean water and pollutants are attracting them.
Posted by: susan | 18:09 26 September 2009
Martha, I just like that photo artistically speaking :)
Mouse, a case of the mouse eating the giant?
Susan, yes, I read all that in the link I provided. Glad you did, these jellyfish are quite amazing. Changes in normal patterns on the coasts everywhere certainly are alarming. I'm not sure if we're getting an abnormal number of jellyfish but we are seeing a drastic drop in our salmon runs, for many reasons including climate change, overfishing and fish farms.
Posted by: marja-leena | 18:32 26 September 2009
So many adjectives are dancing around in my head. Interesting creatures. I am more of a mountain person than a beach person, so this is the first time I ever seen stationery jellyfish.
Posted by: rouchswalwe | 11:22 28 September 2009
R, I'm not a beach person in the sense of laying about and roasting myself on them, in fact I detest doing that, but I do love walking and exploring beaches like these with all manner of rocks and creatures! Or the crashing waves and patterns on sand in the Tofino area!
Posted by: marja-leena | 14:32 28 September 2009
interesting! i had no idea jellyfish were so colorful....and dangerous to crabs. scary!
Posted by: Taina | 17:23 01 October 2009
Taina, it was all a learning experience for me too!
Posted by: marja-leena | 11:10 02 October 2009
Eating or being eaten, neither is a comfortable thought. I think perhaps the crab was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They are remarkably beautiful on land, one normally sees them all illuminated in aquaria.
Posted by: Lucy | 06:02 03 October 2009
Lucy, it's all part of the food chain, isn't it, uncomfortable though it is sometimes. Yes, stunning beauties...
Posted by: marja-leena | 11:52 03 October 2009