It’s no secret I am a big fish-nerd, anything that lives in the oceans, rivers, or lakes, heck even a puddle- fascinates me. The black jellyfish or black sea nettle (Chrysaora achlyos) would be the Gloomth patron saint of the invertebrates, should we ever be asked to nominate one…
The Chrysaora achlyos is a rare beauty of the jellyfish sort. It looks like it has been stained with blood or beet juice, dark violet red so rich it appears black. This jellyfish can grow to sizes up to 1 meter wide and is rarely seen. The few appearances it makes are in huge swarms of them, usually accompanying red tides (plankton blooms- not the er, other sort).
(not my photo- source is morgandavis.net)
Fringed and impossibly delicate looking this dark shadow floats through the water dragging along it’s venomous tentacles. This haunting creature primarily eats plankton and other jellyfish.
I wasnt able to find a lot of good pictures of this strange jellyfish unfortunately. Maybe we can buy a giant saltwater aquarium and fill it with weird black sea creatures (but then they’d get sad and I’d get sad so maybe not).
-Tae
