JELLYFISH.

All photos by Keith Rittmaster

We saw the jelly fish above today at the dock. It is Chrysaora quinquecirrha or “stinging nettle”. It has a semi-transparent bell typically with small white dots and reddish-brown stripes radiating out from the center. Long tentacles extend below the bell. The bell is  1 to 12 inches in diameter. Its sting can be painful.

The two jelly fish below we often see in summer. They are the  Stomolophus meleagris or “cannonball jelly”.They are round, milky in color and somewhat rigid with a reddish-brown pattern becoming darker towards bell margin. Its tentacles are short and dense under the bell. Their sting is very mild, if felt at all. They often have small crabs and fish living all the way inside under the bell. Their round bell presents a ball-like appearance, from tennis ball size to soccer ball. The dolphin below seemed to have noticed its ball potential.

Dolphin With Skate or Ray

Keith saw this from the boat. The dolphin had the skate or sting ray in its mouth and the skate/ray gradually disappeared further and further into the dolphin's mouth. The dolphin went underwater so Keith doesn't know if the dolphin actually swallowed it. What do you think, skate or ray ??

UPDATES & DOLPHIN DORSAL FIN VEINS

April's dolphin Photo ID sightings under NOAA Fisheries protected species research permit No. 779-1633-00. We were out on the water 6 days and had 19 sightings with a total of 294 individual dolphins.

Under the NC Monofilament Recovery  and Recycling Program, staff at Camp LeJuene installed 18 outdoor bins on their military base.
We've been busy with strandings.
Since this is a really short update, I thought I would add something interesting.

Here is an x-ray of the interior vascular structure of a dolphin's dorsal fin.