Explore, Create, Inquire, Seek, Share, Learn

I’m curious by nature. Tell me something and I have more questions. Talk about an experience you’ve had, or a feeling you’re experiencing and I want to know more. Jellyfish? I have so many questions, now that I’ve seen a few different types washed up on shore.

I went for an early morning walk just after sunrise, while clouds still held pinkish and orange hues. The sky was pale blue. The full moon hung high over this morning’s western horizon, chased away by daylight. On the white sand lay shattered shells, some sea grasses, black dots of something from the water, and stranded “flotsam”. Odd word to use in day-to-day conversation, it sounds too poetic, maybe highbrow for a description of this morning’s wander.

I’m watching the path ahead to avoid stepping on stinging creatures, dead or live. There’s a squirming something on the ground – tiny tentacle perhaps? They can sting even after death. This little one is not done surviving yet. A washed up jellyfish has rust colored designs on its nearly clear surface. I can’t see tentacles or other parts. Another similar jelly floats on waves near the shore – same colors – maybe 8 inches across. That’s the largest one I’ve seen. Here and there are small pieces of what look like sea glass – completely smooth blobs. I realize each one is a soft organism, most likely invisible under the water, swept out of it’s comfort zone.

Waves wash over pale white sand, moving it out from under my heels. Gravity. Earth. Sea. Power. The water here is crystal clear, pale blue in the shallows, and deep, night blue farther out. Unfathomable. Fathom. Deep. Waves are strong and high this morning, luring surfers. After my brush with tentacles the other day I’m afraid to get in there and swim. Seeing all the jellies on shore also makes me wary of… well… pain. I would love to swim more in the warm gulf water, but I don’t like the idea of invisible stinging threads brushing against me. What if I step on one? What if I step on some other living creature that doesn’t like feet?

I was going to compare them to invisible predators, but jellyfish don’t have that level of consciousness. Jellyfish are not mean. I think. I’ll look it up. I think jellyfish just are. They have no brain, no centralized thinking thing. These are creatures of perception, sensation, and reflex. They don’t “decide”; they perceive and act. A jelly’s tentacles or receptors sense plankton or small organisms and it somehow knows they’re safe enough to consume. A jelly senses all five feet of my curves and soft skin and perceives a threat. I’m not food, I’m something to repel.

Would long sleeves, leggings, and water shoes protect me or do I need a wetsuit? How do the surfers avoid stings and pain? Are they that much tougher than me? I’m pretty tough. I’ve been through a lot. “I have a past,” I told someone the other day. Don’t we all? I have so many questions. I should have become a scientist. Thank goodness for the internet.