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Project Noah Nature School
Ocyropsis maculata
Marine. Around inshore water and over shelf and slopes of the continental shelf.
I had never seen these before, and this morning while kayaking with the family all of a sudden we were surrounded by hundreds of them in this brackish estuary environment. The tide seem to be coming in and it seems they were being pushed into this area by the current. I couldn't find much literature on them on line, but one site suggest that they do not sting and have bioluminescence at night if the water is disturbed. (If true it would have been quite a sight given the numbers we saw). Note: Last 2 photos are the same; on the last I traced the outline to easily see how many are in the photo. Taken with my cell phone from the kayak. Note also (not photographed there were a few moon jellies among them and I saw 2 small Many-ribbed Jelly (Aequorea forskalea))
Spotted on Jan 31, 2021
Submitted on Jan 31, 2021
2 Comments
Yes, I thought they were an unusual sight. I guess you can see in the map, but since you grew up in the area, we saw them while kayaking at Oleta State Park.
Very cool. I grew up in North Miami. Fishing, diving, and surfing everywhere in the region and never saw any of these.