Something we don't see everyday....

This was a pretty cool day at the beach. All over the beach there were jelly fish washing up. The beach was covered w/ the small clear ice looking ones. It made me curious as to what kind they were, why are they being washed up right now and dying. The kids were getting stung in the water by some of them. I asked a friend in our ward who is a scientist, or a marine biologist and he wrote back with a few tidbits. (Kevin Johnson's snippets will be in blue).

The whitish but a bit opaque jelly: (pictured above) This is the moon jelly Aurelia aurita. They have a fringe of very short, threadlike tentacles. Their sting is mild and usually doesn't bother people for the additional reason that the tentacles are so short.

The reddish-brown radiating stripes jelly: this is a sea nettle, likely a young Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Amongst these three jellies, this one is most likely the source of your sting injuries.
The crystal clear transparent jelly: This could be Solmissus, or any deeper water jelly from the area. If you google Solmissus, you will see it has long stiff tentacles, but these are fragile and break off quickly in the surf. what is left is just the umbrella (or bell) without any tentacles. This clear disk probably did not sting. I did google it and found a pretty cool site (click it) with pictures of the two clear jellies we saw -You can see all the little bumps where the tentacles had been on the photo below.

Why were they on the beach? Well, they don't want to be there because it kills them. Actually, it's not a question of want because they don't have a brain, but you know what I mean. Anyway, they are out in the greater ocean all the time to varying degrees. Once in a while the prevailing winds or upwelling currents bring them ashore and strand them. Solmissus is probably washing up due to some recent upwelling. The other two are typically near the surface and it wouldn't surprise me if the prevailing winds recently have been out of the east.

Hmmmmm, thanks for the info Bro Johnson! I love it when there are surprises like these to explore and see at the beach. It sure kept the kids occupied and having fun.