Re: Sail ho! But what the hell?!

"Desertphile" <desertphile@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1141099242.949982.78190@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Greetings. I have a question but I dunno who or where to ask. It
involves what I assume were a type of jellyfish. I came across several
thousand such wee beasties, and I was wondering if anyone here could
identify them for me.

http://elmerfudd.us/dp/lancer/lancer-30.htm

On July 28 2003 I set sail (alone) to deliver a 30 foot coastal sailer
to Hawaii. 16 days later I managed to crawl into San Diego, suffering
from a mysterious leak I could not find. (But that, and a cheeseburger
in my pocket, is another story altogether.)

Along the way I encountered the jellyfish tykes, though at first I
thought they were uniform bits of plastic. They had sails on their tops
which protruded out of the water. The ocean was littered with them,
mile after mile. I drew a diagram in my log book:

http://elmerfudd.us/dp/lancer/polysail.jpg

Does anyone here have an idea what they were/are? Or is my drawing
skill too poor? :-)

Thank you, and kindly.

From your drawing it's a "by-the-wind-sailor",
or Velella velella.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Velella_velella.html
http://www.rosario.wwc.edu/inverts/Cnidaria/Class-Hydrozoa/Chondrophores-Siphonophores/VelellaVellela.html

Your indicated 4 inches by 2 inches seemed too large, but

http://montereybay.noaa.gov/new/news/velella.html

does say they get that big.

cheers


.

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    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Sail ho! But what the hell?!
    ... thousand such wee beasties, and I was wondering if anyone here could ... Along the way I encountered the jellyfish tykes, ... thought they were uniform bits of plastic. ... mile after mile. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Sail ho! But what the hell?!
    ... thousand such wee beasties, and I was wondering if anyone here could ... Along the way I encountered the jellyfish tykes, ... mile after mile. ... Tough to tell by your diagram, ...
    (talk.origins)