Some kind of plankton jellyfish?

[sashkello]

Location: Shelly Beach, Sydney, Australia
Time of day: ~5pm, around high tide peak
Depth: right under the surface (few centimeters).

There's lots of sea garbage floating around the surface due to some wavy seas these days. Most of it looks like bits and pieces of various sea plants. Noticed a few of these, the only creature of some definite form, so got curious about it. Looks like some member of plankton, maybe a small jellyfish... or is it just another piece of plant? They didn't seem to be moving by themselves, and tentacles look steady as well. Any ideas?

 

[CuzzA]

Possibly some type of Hydrozoa, Hydroid or even a feather duster's crown. Sometimes they will ditch their crown when conditions aren't right. Pollution being one of reason.

 

[sashkello]

Possibly some type of Hydrozoa, Hydroid or even a feather duster's crown. Sometimes they will ditch their crown when conditions aren't right. Pollution being one of reason.

You might be right, the more I look at it the more it reminds me of feather dusters... The "tentacles" don't look like tentacles at all, not of any typical jellyfish at least. Adding here the fact that they are completely immobile makes it even more likely to be a discarded part of some plant or marine animal, rather than an independent organism.

I'll write it off to that, then...