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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 4:28pm | IP Logged
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Ok, technology has failed me the past few weeks. My computer is dead and my digital camara isn't working either. We found this super cool thing at the beach yesterday, but I'll have to try and describe it since I can't do pictures right now.
There were MANY washed up on the beach. They were about the size of a LARGE marble and when we picked one up (by scooping it onto a piece of shell) it was spherical. Completely transparent, but with sort of see-thru stripes. We could see that there was a sand shrimp in the center of the thing. It had the consistency of a grape. We thought we could see the faint outline of tentacles in the sand around it, but when we scooped it up it had no tentacles hanging down and it was spherical instead of umbrella-shaped like you would expect a jellyfish to be.
Any ideas?
There were TONS of sand crabs and sand shrimp on the beach yesterday. We all got bitten several times. Those sand shrimp are nasty! Many of those little bitty sand shrimp were actually eating sand crabs. It reminded me of that old movie with Charleton Heston as a coffee farmer in Brazil when all the ants came and ate everything and everyone in their path. Do we have a smiley for "yikes, I'm creeped out!"?
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MacBeth
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 4:36pm | IP Logged
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OOOOHH! OOHHHH!! Call on me! Call on me!!!
I think you have ctenophores or comb jellies--not true jellies.
Did they look like this?
I did my senior project on ctenophores (the "c" is silent). They are my favorite inverts. 
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 7:15pm | IP Logged
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Wow MacBeth! You are so GOOD! They looked exactly like that! So, Sea Gooseberries, eh? How DO they get those shrimp into their mouths with no limbs? Can they hurt us if we pick them up? I thought all jellies on the Pacific side of the US were stingers, but ctenophores are different? My family will be thrilled with this info.
Ok, I've got another one for you. They look like they might be miniature jellyfish, but on top they have a little blue "sail." The sail is tough when poked with a stick, almost like it is made of cartilege (sp?). These wash up in droves once a year in June (the day of the Sand Castle competition, how do they KNOW?). The rest of the year we don't see ANY.
I am so impressed! You are amazing. Thanks so much!
Michelle
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alicegunther
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
| Wow MacBeth! You are so GOOD! |
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LOL! You should go to the beach or salt marsh with her. It's an experience for sure! MacBeth can share scientific knowledge right off the top of her head that would take me years to impart! (I'd need to learn it first!  )
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MacBeth
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 8:55pm | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
| Wow MacBeth! You are so GOOD! They looked exactly like that! So, Sea Gooseberries, eh? How DO they get those shrimp into their mouths with no limbs? Can they hurt us if we pick them up? I thought all jellies on the Pacific side of the US were stingers, but ctenophores are different? My family will be thrilled with this info. |
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Ctenophores are not even jellies, but a phylum of their own. They are global, planktonic, and very delicate. They are bio-luminescent, and make rainbows in their "combs." Some species keep an anemone larva in their bodies.
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Ok, I've got another one for you. They look like they might be miniature jellyfish, but on top they have a little blue "sail." The sail is tough when poked with a stick, almost like it is made of cartilege (sp?). These wash up in droves once a year in June (the day of the Sand Castle competition, how do they KNOW?). The rest of the year we don't see ANY.
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By-the-wind sailors...Velella velella, would be my guess. I have never seen one personally, but read about them in college.
Glad to help 
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MacBeth in NY
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MacBeth
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| Posted: June 04 2006 at 9:04pm | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
How DO they get those shrimp into their mouths with no limbs?
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Sea gooseberries have a pair of sticky tentacles. Other types of ctenophores have mucous-covered funnels  . Unlike true jellies, they do not have nematocysts...those stinging cells (which work even if the animal is dead because the action of the stinging cell is mechanical). An interesting factoid--some comb jellies can use the stinging cells of true jellies that they have eaten. Hmm.
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MacBeth
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alicegunther wrote:
| LOL! You should go to the beach or salt marsh with her. It's an experience for sure! MacBeth can share scientific knowledge right off the top of her head that would take me years to impart! (I'd need to learn it first! ) |
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Beach hikes are too fun, especially with Alice's enthusiastic kids (who memorize all the info instantly)!
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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 05 2006 at 12:33pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
By-the-wind sailors...Velella velella, would be my guess. I have never seen one personally, but read about them in college.
Glad to help |
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That's them! You are just way too cool!
I am going to have to do some research on ctenophores now. I can't tell you how amazed I am that I have become this interested in gooey, mucousy and wiggley things. I wish you were here.
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Christine
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Michelle, thank you for asking about By-the-wind sailors. Macbeth, thank you for identifying them. We saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of them on our recent trip to the ocean. When my children asked about them, I told them they were probably some type of jelly fish and to remember not to touch. I am so excited to share more information with them. Macbeth, can you share a good book about sea life with us? We live really close to some saltwater beaches and spend a lot of time at them during the summer. We will also be spending a few more weekends at Ocean Shores, where you see and hear the ocean roaring (our local beaches are generally calmer). There seems to be an abundance of unique wild life at Ocean Shores, at least to those of us who don't live there year round, about which I would love to tell my children.
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marihalojen
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Christine, I would recommend The Sea Searchers Handbook, especially as you are on the Pacific coast. Here is the best part - now available for free downloading from the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Hooray!
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Christine
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Thank you, Jennifer!
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MacBeth
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marihalojen wrote:
| Christine, I would recommend The Sea Searchers Handbook, especially as you are on the Pacific coast. Here is the best part - now available for free downloading from the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Hooray! |
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Good find, Jennifer...Christine, I am woefully unequipped with Pacific specific books . I think Sea Searchers will be a great start, and I'll check about with my west coast friends to see what they like to use.
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ladybugs
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MacBeth wrote:
| I am woefully unequipped with Pacific specific books . |
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Well, then, it's time for a visit...
What say you? 
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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 28 2006 at 5:32pm | IP Logged
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We found some more interesting characters at the beach yesterday. Can someone help me figure out how to post pictures from a digital camara?
Michelle
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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 30 2006 at 10:18pm | IP Logged
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Ok, I haven't figured out how to add my own pictures but I think I've identified some of the cool things we found and I wanted to share:
sea slug that looks very similar to the two we found
Isopod Idotea (?) though ours was more pink
We found a couple of other things that I haven't been able to identify. I think one might be an egg sac, though it was very large and tough. Maybe I'll post them on my blog tomorrow. . .
Michelle
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MacBeth
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Nice finds, especially the sea slug. Isopod colors can vary with diet and environment.
Where is your blog? I'd like to take a look (did I miss it elsewhere in the thread?).
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Elizabeth
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alicegunther wrote:
LOL! You should go to the beach or salt marsh with her. It's an experience for sure! MacBeth can share scientific knowledge right off the top of her head that would take me years to impart! (I'd need to learn it first! ) |
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And that experience is not limited to marine excursions--she does the same thing in woods.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MichelleW
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Ok, I posted the egg sac? picture on my blog
Mountain Top Farms
The picture of the isopod came out blurry, so I didn't post it. I guess I tried to get too close.
I can't believe how much fun I am having!! And my kids have been asking about classification, so I think we are off on an oceans and classification bunny trail. Woo-hoo. Ok, so I know nothing about either of these but I am so excited.
Oh, and Elizabeth, not sure where I read it but thanks for the idea to use Magic School Bus for copywork. I checked out their book on oceans and it was perfect!
Michelle
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MacBeth
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Squid eggs! Oh, Libby would love to see those... .
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MacBeth in NY
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MacBeth
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MichelleW wrote:
I can't believe how much fun I am having!! And my kids have been asking about classification, so I think we are off on an oceans and classification bunny trail. Woo-hoo. Ok, so I know nothing about either of these but I am so excited.
Mountain Top Farms |
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Michelle, all the photos are great! I love the three-armed sea star, .
If you are looking into classification with younger kids, one of our favorite activities is to collect whatever you can find, dead or alive, in 10 minutes, then try to group what you have found by species (bits of shell belonging to the same animal...), genus (similar animals), class, order, phylum...or just loosely related. When you find sessile animals, like bryozoans or sponge, the challenge is to discover in which kingdom it fits.
Our littlest friends like to categorize by "mermaid" bits--mermaid purse, mermaid hair, and mermaid's toenails.
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Unidentified marine life form
