Blue Button jellyfish on Blackbird Caye
These washed up one morning and I thought they were fake plastic blue flowers. They were in the water as well as on the beach. Simply beautiful, not even real looking. Found out later they are called Blue Button jellyfish. They're actually not jellyfish but Chondrophores. It is a colony of animals, each one doing its own part. Some form the tentacles and others form the center. They are at the mercy of wind and currents so mass beachings do occur. By later in the day, they were all gone.
Photograph by Stephanie De La Garza, from Blackbird Caye Oceanic Society Field Station
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