@mbari_news: In the spring, beaches along the west coast of the US can be covered by thousands to millions of blue jellyfish relatives called Velella velella, the by-the-wind sailors. Velella typically live on the surface of the open ocean far from shore, propelled by winds pushing on their tiny sails. Velella is best described as a hydroid colony that has flipped itself over. It is unlike a traditional jellyfish (medusa) but rather like the benthic stage of a hydroid. Instead of living attached to rocks on the bottom, its “substrate” is the ocean’s surface. These hydroid colonies bud off tiny medusae, little “jellyfish,” just like many benthic hydroids do. #montereybay #velella #bythewindsailor #ocean #oceanlife #fyp

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Friday 29 March 2024 21:02:29 GMT