Tiny strands of pulsating jelly...

[Giddzilla]

I was out today and saw both things. The wingy things are some kind of copepod, rotifer, or other large plankton I think. Possibly this, or similar, which is a very small swimming snail:

I know for a fact it had a conical shell because I managed to impale one in my finger after I got out of the water.



I am pretty sure the pulsating jelly is NOT fish eggs because eggs don't need a propulsion system. I think it may be pieces of a salp. Salps are weird because they can come singly or in pretty colonies. They are related to tunicates.

Here's a bunch together but I was seeing them singly. Do a Google image search for "salp" and I think you will be convinced.

I will do more research and get back to y'all. Both are quite harmless by the way, although I did end up with the plankton in my hair and swimsuit.

On another note I was privileged to see several dolphins very close to the beach at Topsail Hill State Park today and I chased some small squid and saw pompano and ladyfish while snorkeling. There were tons of small ghost crabs on the beach and even a little skink among the sea oats at the foot of the dune. I picked up A LOT of trash, mostly plastic, in the morning and scored a cool pair of Oakley sunglasses.

 

[BlueFox181]

Interesting; those aren't what I saw though...

 

[Giddzilla]

Interesting; those aren't what I saw though...

That was the closest picture I could find, definitely not spot-on but I think that's what it was. I swam around in them for about 40 minutes. My next best educated guess is some sort of larva.

 

[NotDeadYet]

Gidzilla, those are some very interesting things! It sounds like you had a great time in the water.
However, they are not what I saw either. Yesterday I had a swim in Seagrove, and saw nothing like any of these things. I'll look again today - if they come back I'll try to get some in a bucket and try a picture.

 

[Giddzilla]

Gidzilla, those are some very interesting things! It sounds like you had a great time in the water.
However, they are not what I saw either. Yesterday I had a swim in Seagrove, and saw nothing like any of these things. I'll look again today - if they come back I'll try to get some in a bucket and try a picture.

The "wingies" or the "jelly"? (very scientific terms )

I saw the jelly in the morning EVERYWHERE along the beach in the park but the wingies didn't show up until after 1pm when the wind picked up.

I'm sticking with salps for the jelly, definitely open for input on the wingies.

 

[Franny]

Gidzilla, those are some very interesting things! It sounds like you had a great time in the water.
However, they are not what I saw either. Yesterday I had a swim in Seagrove, and saw nothing like any of these things. I'll look again today - if they come back I'll try to get some in a bucket and try a picture.

I saw them at Grayton yesterday and have never seen them before and there were tons of them swimming around...very curious.

 

[BlueFox181]

Ok, so I googled Salp- and that is definitely not what I saw. I was in Dune Allen. There literally wasn't an inch of water without one/many if these things. And they were tiny. I'm now throughly intrigued and will try and do some research myself...

 

[Giddzilla]

We should start a new sub-forum or a social group entitled: "ID That Slimy Thing from the Gulf Please";-)

 

[BlueFox181]

I totally agree. I actually came here looking because this stuff is usually identified so quickly on this board!