The sea nettles have been in great abundance near the shore this past month. Their sudden appearance seems kind of random, as I've also seen large numbers in the middle of summer. I wonder if they passively float along with the water currents, or if they actively follow food. I wouldn't want to be a surfer or a scuba diver, because some days there are so many nettles that I imagine it would be impossible to avoid getting stung, at least on exposed hands. Being the land lover that I am, I generally don't pay much attention to
them, but they are kind of pretty in a brown sort of way. When they die, they turn a ghostly white and tend to sink (didn't get a good picture of this). I've watched western gulls and opal eye awkwardly try to eat them. I realized this morning that I hadn't really looked up information yet, and I was interested to see how different aquariums present their online information (sea nettles are apparently relatively easy to keep in captivity): Monterey Bay Aquarium, Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, National Aquarium in Baltimore. I have to say I've been impressed with the improvements MBA has made to their site over the past few years.
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