If you’ve been taking a chilly dip or walking along our Storm Bay beaches in Tasmania lately, you’d have seen lots of mysterious jelly-like sea creatures washed up or in the water. But what are they and why are they turning up here? Our Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) zooplankton expert, Associate Professor Kerrie Swadling, explains.
Lots of jelly-like marine life has been washing up on our local beaches lately – from Coningham to Opossum Bay, and along the east coast near the Tasman Peninsula. You might have mistaken them for a type of jellyfish or their eggs, but they’re actually a species of zooplankton called salps. While they’re common visitors to our beaches, they don’t turn up every year.
Salps don’t have stinging cells like jellyfish, and they’re not dangerous. They are semi-transparent barrel-shaped animals made up mostly of seawater, with a brown spot (their guts) inside.
They may look like simple creatures, but they have muscle bands encircling their body which contract to propel them through the water. The seawater pumped through their bodies is strained through mesh filters, capturing algae and particles in the seawater.
After salp blooms like we’re seeing now, the water is often very clear because the salps have filtered out and eaten all the algae – so it’s the perfect time for a dive or a snorkel.
To read the full article, click here: The secret life of salps | University of Tasmania
