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	Birgit and Alakaset at the beach, May 2003     Jellyfish!  We saw many jellies beached by a storm. I have seen them once before, about ten years ago. They are beautiful, look like little blue sailboats: By-the-wind sailor (Velella velella). According to Monterey Bay Aquarium   these jellies are actually a colony of smaller organisms: the gastrozooids, who feed for the colony, using their tentacles to capture plankton; and the gonozooids, who are the polyps that serve a reproductive function, constantly releasing tiny medusa (2-3 mm) that are the sexual reproductive stage of this animal.

 
 

The background: the Pacific Ocean at Zmudowsky State Park, California Webdesign by Rena Petrescu.  Photographs by Rena, or captured of the videocamera set on auto, unless otherwise noted © Rena Petrescu / dreamhorsetraining.com