Black sea nettle jellies appearing off Catalina

[drbill]

Thanks to dive buddy Wade McDonald who say it first, I filmed about 15 min of footage of a black sea nettle jelly (Chrysaora achlyos). Yesterday I received reports from snorkelers down the coast at Pebbly Beach that they were seeing them there and this morning Harbor Patrolman William called to say there was one in the harbor.

I did get several stings while filming this one, although most likely due to nematocysts on pieces torn loose from the tentacles. The stings were milder than I expected given this jelly's reputation.

I know they appear periodically and that San Diego had an influx of them about 2010. Anyone else in SoCal seeing these larger jellies.

I'll be writing a future column about them and posting it here on FB.

 

[Tessunderwater]

Do they typically migrate through that area or is this an unusual occurance? I've never seen black sea nettles here but we do get the occaisonal pink meany and portugeuse man of war.

 

[drbill]

This is the first time I've seen them here, but they do sporadically appear in SoCal. The last time was 2010. There were two years listed before that. I believe the earlier one was 1988 or 1989.

 

[tracydr]

I would just love to see one of those!

 

[fnfalman]

Cool!!! I'm diving at Catalina on Independence Day, so hopefully I'd get to see some.

 

[SoCalSwami]

I know they appear periodically and that San Diego had an influx of them about 2010. Anyone else in SoCal seeing these larger jellies.

I heard rumblings of recent appearances of jellies in the La Jolla Shores area, but nothing confirmed. Unfortunately the recently algae bloom has reduced visibility to dreadful levels, so the motivation to dive is proportionally nullified.


But, speaking of the 2010 San Diego influx, I happen to witness the July/August bombardment and was lucky to catch a few with the camera. Not only did we see BSN, but you were almost certain to see 3-5 Fried Egg Jellies on the every dive. On August 1st 2010, got incredibly lucky and found a Medusafish nestled into the billow folds of a FEJ.




2010 Album: Diving2010 pictures by SoCalSwami - Photobucket
Mike

 

[Thiad]

We saw numerous ones this weekend while diving in San Diego. Absolutely amazing.

 

[drbill]

Here is the column I wrote about the one we saw: A S(t)inging Sensation.