Salps In Bonaire Waters
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sasscuba
Contributor
We had fun playing with them last week. Pretty neat.
I was there last week also. If those things could sting then no one would have been able to dive. At one point it looked like the OW pool I trained in. :shakehead
When we arrived (4/29) they were solitaires, as the week went on the became 20-30 foot chains. Now the shapes are looking more complex. I see a pitch foprk but it may be like ink blots. 
Some has suggested that they will be a food source for others. I wonder who's coming to dinner?
Pete
Some has suggested that they will be a food source for others. I wonder who's coming to dinner?Pete
drl
Contributor
We saw lots of these in Curacao the last week of April. None of us were sure what they were. Except for the reef fish, who decided they were lunch! Fish of all sorts would swarm around the long chains and just tear them apart. It was fascinating; I'd never seen these before.
Strima77
Contributor
I was there the first week of May. On the main island dives they weren't so bad, but off Klein Bonaire they were just too many. I saw some fish eating them, but it seemed as though most left them alone. Hope I don't run into tunicate soup the next time. But yes at least they don't sting.
Steve
Steve
OP
dvrliz1
Guest
Just to let you all know that all is truly clear now...they have gone. They are kind of nature's filters....eating an over abundance of phytoplankton (sp?). They also digest the bad carbons that fall out of the atmosphere into the ocean due to global warming. They excrete the carbons and due to the weight, I have read the excrement can sink up to 1/2 mile in less than 30 minutes....Though we did notice that the "cowfish" considered these delicious and seemed like they couldn't get enough!
The waters are clear and again and the diving is amazing as ever!
Liz
The waters are clear and again and the diving is amazing as ever!
Liz
CUunderH2O
Contributor
We saw a chain of these in Bonaire the first week of April; the fish around us tore it apart before I managed to get any worthwhile photos. My buddy thought they were squid eggs. Thanks for identifying this stuff!
Wow! Thank you for IDing those things! We thought they were fish eggs as well, but then they started moving of their own accord and the linking together and "swimming" around like they were on invisible roller coasters. We were in Bonaire May 4-14th. They were there almost the whole time. They were pretty cool. At first, I was swimming around them, trying not to get stung by them. Then the waters got so clustered that it was impossible not to touch them. They were soft and slimy. The tangs and the box fish absolutely loved munching on the stuff. Made some great photos.
designbysue
Contributor
Was there also during that time - the worst was one of the night dives we did. They were so many of them you couldn't avoid them and worse, you couldn't see them so all of a sudden one would brush your leg or arm (and I was wearing a 3 mil suit - could feel them through it) OR brush across your lip or forehead. eeeech - I love diving but couldnt' wait for the dive to end. They were so thick you could hardly see anything beyond them anyway.
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