Those Weren't Fish Eggs You Were Swimming Through
Salps arrive at the Jersey Shore— but what are they?
For the last time, those weren't jellyfish eggs washing up on local beaches this weekend. Much to the befuddlement of beachgoers who took to the Jersey Shore this Fourth Of July, the gelatinous organisms that made their way to many beaches are a little known creature called salps. The salp is a simple, filter-feeding organism that is somewhat related to the common jellyfish, with one major difference— the salp is a member of the phylum Chordata, meaning that in at least some part of its life cycle, it has a spinal cord. While they make for a slimy ocean swim, salps are actually harmless to humans and, scientists believe, may help to remove carbon dioxide from the environment. What's more— salps reproduce in symbiosis with phytoplankton and…
Mike
12:49 pm on Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Are the Salps still there? more ›