Thursday, July 24, 2008

Jellyfish?!?!?

Today I took the children swimming, and we caught a freshwater jellyfish! I had no idea that they even existed. Just before we were getting ready to leave, we went out into the water one last time, and I saw it. It took some juggling to get it, while holding Asya, with Raia hanging from me, but Jaan helped. It's a tiny little thing, about the size of a quarter. There's a website all about them. If you look at the videos, you can see what the centerpiece on our table at dinner looked like.

The photo is actually of a moon jelly. (I took it from here.) Our find looks exactly like a miniature version of one. I remember when I was little, one of our favorite exhibits at the Florida Aquarium was the one with the moon jellies floating around peacefully, accompanied by classical music. Now we have our own version of that. . . at least for a little while. I hope it survives until we can take it back and release it!

The website I mentioned above didn't have any sightings in Ukraine listed. Of course, I reported ours. If you see a listing added for a freshwater jellyfish found in Kakhovskoe Reservoir, you'll know it's ours.

4 comments:

Martha A. said...

Do these jellyfish not sting unless provoked? I just read one of Susan Warrens books. It is fiction, but about a woman who lives in Russia.

Anonymous said...

Very cool! You all find the most interesting things!! I'm looking forward to "discovering" birds of the West very soon! Love, Baba Julie

Phyllis said...

To answer Martha's question. . . .

Martha A. said...

Interesting! I guess I dud realize there was freshwater and saltwater jellyfish! Interesting lesson for me!