Water Ghosts

 Emily called them "little water ghosts". Dozens of jellies floated and pulsed in the hazy green bay upon we floated on a warm, breezy mid September day. They were ghostlike but tangible, lingering in view for extended time and existing their extraordinarily simple little lives. Jellies waft with the ebb and flow of the tide and other currents. This means they're plankton, which may buck a traditional sense of the word. Planktonic animals are often though of as microscopic, or at least very tiny. But jellies aren't strong enough to fight the tide, the ride with the flow, and that makes them plankton. 

These jellies were mostly Sea nettle, Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Smaller, more transparent, and perhaps more elegant than the often seen Lion's mane jellyfish that are also numerous in long island sound. They were so numerous that some drifted into my anchor line, losing bits of their long and delicate tentacles as they did so. Though just a minor irritant to a human swimmer, these jellies are death incarnate to tiny fish and crustaceans. Passive as they are though, it is very much up to the prey to make an error. The jelly is not going to chase it down.

As I pulled up my anchor line, it tugged through a Sea nettle, breaking bits off of its long tendrils. This seemed to upset me more than it did the jelly as it continued pulsing away as though nothing had happened. I never like breaking bits off of a living thing needlessly, even if it's a mindless little water ghost. 

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