Walking on the beach, we found these strange beautiful purple things washing out of the waves.
So of course I picked some of them up and they are soft jelly like with a strong smell of the sea. There were many of them as we walked along and due to the strong winds there were no other people around.
Just as well, as after I found out what they are, many people would have been stung by them.
A closer look at the art on this one and it looks like a stack of books with a candle on top of the books!
This is where I found the one in my hand next to another one that was upside down!
But what is this lovely soft thing?
"Chrysaora africana, the purple compass jelly, is a species of jellyfish from the family Pelagiidae. Found in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean from Gabon to the western coast of South Africa (although uncommon in the far south of its range), its taxonomy has historically caused considerable confusion.
"Like other sea nettles, its sting is painful, but not generally dangerous unless there is an allergic reaction to the venom".
Source
So, it is a "Purple Compass Jellyfish", or is it a "Cape Compass Jellyfish"?
This below is the famous "Blue Bottle"
"The Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war bluebottle, or floating terror is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Oceans. It is considered to be the same species as the Pacific man o' war, which is found mainly in the Pacific Ocean".
"It has numerous venomous microscopic nematocysts which deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish, and has been known to occasionally kill humans".
Source
Just to show you the inside of the Purple Compass Jellyfish!
Here you can see one just behind the breaking wave!
Finally, just to show you some more natural art on a seashell!
For those that like to read the story about the "Cape Compass Jelly" discovery, that appears only from Namibia to Durban on our coast is fascinating, as this beauty doesn't even have an official classification (name) yet!
"Chrysaoia africana was first described by Ernst Vanhöffen in 1902. In 1939 it was suggested that it simply represented old individuals of C. fulgida, a view repeated as recently as 2010. C. fulgida itself has frequently been confused with the closely related C. hysoscella. Recent studies have been able to separate not only C. hysoscella (now known to be restricted to the northeast Atlantic Ocean), but also the three southeast Atlantic Chrysaora species—C. africana, C. fulgida and an undescribed species tentatively referred to as "C. agulhensis"—based on differences in their morphology and genetics".
"The last and still-undescribed species, also known by the common name Cape compass jelly, is widespread along the southern African coast from Namibia to Durban in South Africa. Although a detailed description has been published where a scientific name was proposed, it did not comply with article 8 of the ICZN Code".
Source
I took two of them home to wash and to unfurl their interior strands!
And That's All Folks!
Note: All photos are my own and taken with a Canon Powershot SX60HS camera!
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What a beautiful things!! Great colour and pattern on them.
Thank you my friend.
It was the colors that caught my eye!
I like watching jellies swim, especially when I scuba dive. It's been awhile though.
Those ones look nice.
Yeah, time for you to go for a dive again methinks.
I have only seen pictures of them swimming and it's an amazing sight.
I can imagine that they would look something like this when they swim?
Source
yeah some of the animals are neat, especially when its darker and we shine lights on them. Cuttlefish are the strangest because their skin continually changes colors like a strobe.
Strange that you should mention Cuttlefish, as Marian picks them up in a bag on the beach for the birds and the squirrels here in our garden.
We read somewhere that the white bone that she picks up is the inner part of the Cuttlefish that helps them to float!
Wow this looks awesome!
Purple Compass Jellyfish", or is it a "Cape Compass Jellyfish" are beautiful? What kind of rocks (the aqua/turquoise colored ones) are on the beach?
Thank you and they are indeed lovely sea animals.
We are told that most of the rocks are granite and there is also lava flow rocks from underwater volcanos that erupted millions of years ago!
We appreciate your work and your post has been manually curated by @nelinoeva on behalf of Amazing Nature Community. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the great support @nelinoeva and @amazingnature
You are always welcome!
Mother Nature is always full of surprises.
The area you live in seems to supply you with so many opportunities to capture so many cool things.
The colors of the purple compass jellyfish and the detail on its body seem to have been painted by an artist.
You found so many sea creators that day, what a treat!
Totally unexpected yesterday my friend. We discovered afterwards that it was the strong wind that created the waves that washed the jellyfish and the crabs out of the deep. The beach was littered with them and only in the area where we visit the rocks.
Yes, I love the natural art of the ocean and it was indeed a real treat!
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Don't know how I missed this one, but thank you and greetings also to you!
WOW....this is really awesome looking to me it looks like a Alien Spaceship shrunken down never seen one of them before what a great find 👍
A totally unexpected find and such is nature my friend.
Always something going on if one cares to look.
A friend does deep sea diving and he said that they are wonderful to see swimming in the deep.
Certainly a great find and like you said keeping your eyes peeled brings wonderful things and knowledge 👍
There really would look awesome swimming around in deep sea very different and colorful to look at.
Totally agreed with you my friend!
Wow so beautiful! Nature does wonders, I am sure it is a special feeling to hold such a jelly creature in one's hands. How do they sting I wonder, you hold it pretty well, weren't you afraid?
I see with my hands my friend, so when I saw these beauties it was natural to pick them up.
They sting only when they are actively swimming around with their tendrils all extended.
I have heard a story about a little boy that died because he put a big jelly fish on his head.
Hahaha, I have been stung by many things, so it's not a real worry.
Oh I see, you're brave. I like how you find joy in nature, it inspires me
!ENGAGE 10
Nah, not brave, only stupid enough to do the things that I enjoy :)
Thank you kindly for the token and I was told that my BEER tokens do not work when I issue them. Will sort that out!
My pleasure!
ENGAGEtokens.Its color is like a zebra!
Hahaha, yes, a purple zebra!
What a great find and interesting info. I’ve never seen a jellyfish like this one.
Thank you Lady Jo, I discovered that it happens when the strong winds blow from a certain direction, then they disturb the deep parts of the sea in the bay and the waves wash the jellyfish and the small crabs out from the deep.
They are definitely beautiful creatures.