JelliesZone Sightings  (2001)

Look here for reports of gelatinous fauna seen in nearshore surface waters of the Monterey Peninsula during the years 1999 to 2001 (central California, about 120 miles south of San Francisco).  These reports should give you some idea of the richness of the West Coast gelatinous fauna.  The JelliesZone sightings here focus on jellies in Monterey Bay, Carmel Bay, Point Lobos and off the Big Sur coast.  Jellies are notorious transients.  One day the bay may be inundated with hordes of gelatinous creatures.   Come back to the same spot the next day or even a few hours later, and you may find a complete absence of any gelatinous life form.  To learn more about Monterey Bay and some of its non-gelatinous creatures, particularly whales and dolphins, click here (link from the Monterey Bay Whale Watch).  

     If you need a quick refresher, here's some of the common gelatinous animals of central California.  

     Check out the Dockwatch program at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama.  This unique program allows volunteers to take part in a research program that will keep tabs on blooms of jellies in the Gulf of Mexico.  Projects like this will be an important step in gathering data on the comings and goings of various gelatinous species since very little hard data is available on their wanderings.  Among other things, this will help to determine whether the distributions and abundances of any jellies are changing from year to year.  If changes are documented, then researchers can begin to examine the potential influences of human impacts on the environment in leading to any shifts.   

November 2001:  Jerry Mountjoy reported hundreds of sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) visible when diving at the Metridium Field off Monterey (near the Coast Guard Breakwater) on November 12.  While sitting on the bottom among the white-plume anemones, the jellies provided a surreal sight as they drifted overhead.

September 2001:  JellyMan returned to Monterey this month for a week of diving Point Lobos and Carmel Bay.  During the week of September 10, hordes of many types of gelatinous zooplankton inundated surface water.  Beroe, cross jellies (Mitrocoma), the hydromedusa Amphinema, the comb jelly Velamen, moon jellies (Aurelia), egg-yolk jellies (Phacellophora), sea nettles (Chrysaora) and purple-stripe jellies (Pelagia) were all sighted early in the week in the vicinity of the Pinnacles in Carmel Bay.  Amphinema and Velamen are relatively rare visitors to nearshore waters of Monterey.  Velamen is quite transparent and requires careful searching to see them.  Many of the sea nettles hosted juvenile butterfish that use the jellyfish as a traveling home.  Perhaps the most spectacular sighting was a large Chrysaora achlyos, a relative of the sea nettle and purple-stripe jelly that has been reported in southern California waters but not as far north as the Monterey area.  This impressive jellyfish has a darkly pigmented bell (this individual had a bell about 1/2 meter diameter, with numerous scratches) that's somewhat lighter in color around the margin, and strikingly beautiful purplish oral arms.  Several butterfish were hanging out among the oral arms.  

     Among the notable gelatinous visitors were doliolids, which formed dense gelatinous clouds down to about 7 meters on September 12 in Bluefish Cove, Point Lobos.  In some spots they were aggregated in densities that probably exceeded a thousand per cubic meter.  Other gelatinous animals present that day included the siphonophore Nanomia,  the lobed comb jelly Bolinopsis, egg-yolk jellies and sea nettles.   September 13 brought spectacular numbers of Phacellophora and Chrysaora to Bluefish Cove, with egg-yolk jellies drifting at depths down to 25 meters.  The sea nettles were more confined to within about 5 meters of the surface - when submerged it was possible to see a dozen or more at a time.  The contrast between the actively swimming sea nettles, and the slow-moving, drifting egg-yolk jellies was readily apparent.  It was difficult to avoid contacting the long, sticky tentacles of Phacellophora, which often extended for 6 or more meters from the bell of each jelly.  

July 2001:  After making themselves scarce for several months, gelatinous zooplankton returned with a vengeance to the Monterey area.  On July 10 and 11, Leon Garden reported the most purple-stripe jellies (Pelagia) he's ever seen, with jumbo bells ranging from 30 to 50 cm diameter.  This jelly shuns aggregations - on average they were spaced about 100 feet apart in a zone ranging from Lover's Point (Pacific Grove) south into Carmel Bay.  Highest densities were in the area around Point Pinos.  Moon jellies (Aurelia) were scattered throughout southern Monterey Bay.  Leon also noted concentrations of sea nettles (Chrysaora) mingling around Monterey's Mile Buoy, and egg-yolk jellies (Phacellophora) surrounding the Monterey Peninsula.  Comb jellies also made an appearance, starring delicate and hard to see Bolinopsis and several species of the voracious consumer of other ctenophores, Beroe.  

     It's unusual to see dense groups of purple-stripe jellies, but Sue Fariel reported seeing at least 100 at the mouth of Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing on July 29.  Apparently they had been sighted there throughout the day.  Individuals were close enough to be in contact.  Why water currents were bringing large numbers of this oceanic jelly into the confines of the slough (estuary) is difficult to determine, but presumably this is not a great place for large jellies to hang out.   

April 2001:  Spring has produced little gelatinous activity according to Leon Garden.  Giant bell jellies (Scrippsia), a relatively infrequent visitor to nearshore waters, were seen west of the Point Pinos buoy on April 16.  Another gelatinous animal, the hooded nudibranch (Melibe), which hasn't been seen in large numbers for many years, has appeared in force in the kelp beds north of Monterey's Wharf II (the so-called Shale Beds).  Individuals are in the small to medium size range, from 5 to 10 centimeters long.  Although usually not found over widespread areas in Monterey Bay, in localized areas you may find groups of kelp plants each blanketed with hundreds or even thousands of these bizarre nudibranchs.   

March 2001:  Leon Garden has reported that March has been relatively slow for jellies in Monterey Bay and nearby areas.  A notable exception were impressive numbers (thousands) of bell jellies (Polyorchis) in the area outside of Monterey's marina and Wharf II, easily visible at the surface while boating on March 21.  They ranged widely in size, with some having bell diameters up to 5 cm.  

February 2001:  Purple-stripe jellies (Pelagia colorata) made a show in Carmel Bay just south of Cypress Point on February 1.  Most appeared to be relatively young, with light bell pigmentation and impressively long oral arms.  Some individuals trailed oral arms of at least 6 meters in length!   Inconspicuous bell jellies (Polyorchis) were abundant in Monterey Harbor on February 6.  Walking along the docks, it was possible to find several dozen visible near the surface within a few minutes of searching.  Both species (P. penicillatus and P. haplus) were represented.  Most individuals were relatively small, with bells less than 3 cm diameter.   

     Leon Garden reported great diving conditions and a continuous train of impressive purple-stripe jellies near the surface (from 2 to 5 meters below) outside of Bluefish Cove on February 19.  Although quite large, with bell diameters up to 30 cm and oral arms of 3 meters or more in length, their pale bell color indicated they were mere youngsters.  Comb jellies, both Beroe forskalii and sea gooseberries (Pleurobrachia bachei), cavorted dangerously with the purple-stripe jellies.  Deeper down, from 6 to 20 meters, numerous cross jellies (Mitrocoma) gently drifted.  

January 2001:  The new year (some might argue that it's the true new millennium) began with an impressive swarm of comb jellies (mainly Beroe cucumis, but also a few B. forskalii and B. gracilis) about 1.5 miles west of the Point Pinos buoy on January 3.  A narrow debris-filled slick held thousands of these comb jellies in a dense row that was only 1 to 2 meters wide.  Most were confined to within a meter of the surface, and in some spots you could count at least a 100 or more at a time.  Mingling among the comb jellies were dense patches of large calanoid copepods (too bad Beroe don't feed on crustaceans - they could have had a feast!).  The Beroe cucumis ranged in length from about 1 cm to at least 8 cm.  Beroe were also present in far fewer numbers in a slick near the Mile Buoy of Monterey, along with cross jellies (Mitrocoma) and sea butterflies (Corolla).  The same area the following day held crystal jellies (Aequorea) and massive sea nettles (Chrysaora), some with bell diameters of at least half a meter.  Crystal jellies are a relatively uncommon sight in Monterey Bay, being much more frequently seen farther north in places like the San Juan Islands of Washington and Vancouver Island in British Columbia.  Large sea nettles were in abundance on January 17 and 18 from the Monterey Breakwater to at least the Mile Buoy.  They were not easily visible from the surface in the murky green water however, and required getting beneath the surface to see them down to depths of at least 15 meters.  At the end of the month, sea nettles were under attack by fulmars, oceanic birds that have a taste for jellies.  From Point Pinos to Cypress Point, small groups of these gull-like birds could be seen nipping at the delicate tissue of unfortunate jellies that ventured too close to the surface.  

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