Jelly Belleys

Went to the New England Aquarium this afternoon. My last visit was 6 yrs back when my parents were taking me on the college tour. Thanx Yao & Taka for an afternoon of aquatic fun =D

Moon Jellies


Upside-down Jellies with simbiotic algae in their tentacles so they don't have to move to eat. (hmm wonder if I can stick leaves on meself so will be fed on photosynthetic sugar)



Japanese Sea Nettle


These tiny fluffy-tentacled dudes swim funny - see vids 1&2. As Yao says, "They have to work so hard!"

[apologies for lo-fi videos - am blaming it on my ghetto 1st gen Sony digicam]


Moon Jellies in action


These dudes had lines of cool pulsing rainbow lights


Penguins are always funny to watch
My first encounters with jellies was when my mum picked up a shored one down on its luck at the beach. Mum held it in her palm upside down and poked it around. The second time round was less fun. Aged 8 in a turquoise swimsuit with white polka dots and fluffy wings, I swam into what I thought was a plastic bag and OHMYGOD did it hurt. I swam as fast as I could back to the boat my family was on. My mum claims she's never seen me swim so fast (since then, before every swimming competition she'd tell me: swim like that time when you got stung!)

The upside of getting a thigh-wide jellyfish sting: I didn't get a beating when I got 60/100 on a Maths test.