When I saw them I was immediately struck by their shapes. They looked like hundreds of snowflakes lying at the bottom of the mudflats in the Florida Keys’ Tavernier mangrove swamp.
I became preoccupied with them, checking them during different times of day.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes, I’m going to visit those underwater snowflakes.” I told my husband, Ed.
“Are they sea anemones?” I wondered. “Are they some kind of tropical underwater flower?”
I lay prone on the dock, staring. And there I saw it. I saw upside down jellyfish- yes standing on their heads as if they were sleeping. I realized the beautiful geometric shapes, the snowflakes, were their out folded branching tentacles.
How bizarre!
Some of the jellyfish were “breathing,” their heads expanding and contracting, pushing water, while others seemed completely comatose, not moving at all.
A few smaller ones were actually swimming heads-up the way I would expect a jellyfish to!
I took lots of photos while hoping no boat would disturb their slumber.
I read, laughing, when I learned that they are indeed known as Cassiopea, the “upside down jellyfish,” ironically, all part of a symbiotic relationship with algae. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopea)
I really fell in love with this snowflake jelly forest. Now, before I go to bed, I often wonder what they are dreaming about.
Perhaps clean water and a healthy sea…
