BIG JELLY.Move over Jaws, here comes Big Jelly! Last summer, California swimmers dropped their jaws at the sight of this purple-black monster jellyfish jellyfish, common name for the free-swimming stage (see polyp and medusa), of certain invertebrate animals of the phylum Cnidaria (the coelenterates). The body of a jellyfish is shaped like a bell or umbrella, with a clear, jellylike material filling most of the . Known only by its species name, Chrysaora achlyos (kris-AH-oh-rah ACK-lee-us), the creature sported 9-meter (30-foot)-long tentacles riddled with stinging cells called cnidocytes (NYE-doh-sites). The cells release instant poison on contact. The jellyfish's umbrella-shaped body stretched 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter. Thousands of huge jellyfish, some of nature's eeriest invertebrates (animals without backbones), plagued U.S. beaches in 1999. Why? "It's probably a current and wind issue," says Claudia Mills, marine biologist marine biologist specialist in the biology of marine life. at Friday Harbor Labs in San Juan Island San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km² (55.053 sq mi) and a population of 6,822 as of the 2000 census. , Wash. Recent wind and current shifts carried these pelagic pelagic living in the middle or near the surface of large bodies of water such as lakes or oceans. (deep-ocean floating or swimming) critters close to shore. "Hot and dry weather also seems to favor them," adds Mills. Glad you weren't stung? |
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