Howdee all,
A very strange afternoon beach walk..
We started at the most south western part of Edisto beach we could access.
Little did we know that we were about to see some very strange things on the beach..
As we walked east..
We were surprised to see brown and black mustaches all over the shoreline....
Jeff and I tried a few on
We walked thru the mustaches and noticed
many clear blobs in a row on the edge of the surf....
What could these be?
On further inspection..
Alien Mushrooms..
Odd looking other worldly things
They were beautiful
Ok..I know and you know..
These are not Alien mushrooms….
They sure did look like mushrooms from another planet.
I did a Google search and believe these to be~
Cannonball Jellyfish
also known as jellyballs,
belong to the class Scyphozoa and order Rhizostomeae. Agassiz (1860) described and illustrated the medusa of
cannonballs using specimens collected from Wassaw Island, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. The
hemisperical bell reaches 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10 inches) in size and is bordered with brown
pigment. It has short, protruding oral arms with secondary mouth folds (scapulets) at the base of
the bell covered with mucus for trapping small prey. Stomolophus meleagris
means “many mouthed hunter.” The mucus is also thought to be a response to disturbance rather than for
feeding ~~via~http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/pdf/Cannonballjellyfish.pdf
The cannonball jellyfish is not a state or federally listed species; however, cannonballs are ecologically important because they are the major prey base for the endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and warrant conservation
When disrupted the cannonball secretes a mucus out of its nematocyst that contains a toxin. The toxin harms small fish in the immediate area, and drives away most predators, except for certain types of crabs.[8] Although cannonballs do not commonly sting humans, it still has toxins which can cause cardiac problems in animals and humans. The toxin causes irregular heart rhythms and problems in the myocardial conduction pathways. Such complications are associated also with toxins of other coelenterates.[9] The toxin is also harmful to the eyes, when the nematocyst comes in contact with eyes it is very painful and is followed with redness and swelling. via ~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_jellyfish
Along the coast of the southern U.S. state of Georgia, jellyfish are a valuable export, which end up on dining tables across Asia. The jellyfish are dried, preserved and packaged before being sold to a seafood distributor that ships them to Japan, China, and Thailand.
Jellyball (as they are known locally) fishing is Georgia’s third largest commercial fishery - after shrimp and crabs - but only five boats are permitted to catch them. [13]
What a weird and wacky walk on the beach..
One never knows what you might find…..
One thing is for sure..it is always
Entertaining!
We leave Edisto Beach State Park today ..we will head back to Hollywood for a few days before heading further south!
See you there!
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ok what do you really think?????