Walking on the beach, we found these strange beautiful purple things washing out of the waves.
So of course I picked some of them up and they are soft jelly like with a strong smell of the sea. There were many of them as we walked along and due to the strong winds there were no other people around.
Just as well, as after I found out what they are, many people would have been stung by them.
A closer look at the art on this one and it looks like a stack of books with a candle on top of the books!
This is where I found the one in my hand next to another one that was upside down!
But what is this lovely soft thing?
"Chrysaora africana, the purple compass jelly, is a species of jellyfish from the family Pelagiidae. Found in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean from Gabon to the western coast of South Africa (although uncommon in the far south of its range), its taxonomy has historically caused considerable confusion.
"Like other sea nettles, its sting is painful, but not generally dangerous unless there is an allergic reaction to the venom".
Source
So, it is a "Purple Compass Jellyfish", or is it a "Cape Compass Jellyfish"?
This below is the famous "Blue Bottle"
"The Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war bluebottle, or floating terror is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Oceans. It is considered to be the same species as the Pacific man o' war, which is found mainly in the Pacific Ocean".
"It has numerous venomous microscopic nematocysts which deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish, and has been known to occasionally kill humans".
Source
Just to show you the inside of the Purple Compass Jellyfish!
Here you can see one just behind the breaking wave!
Finally, just to show you some more natural art on a seashell!
For those that like to read the story about the "Cape Compass Jelly" discovery, that appears only from Namibia to Durban on our coast is fascinating, as this beauty doesn't even have an official classification (name) yet!
"Chrysaoia africana was first described by Ernst Vanhöffen in 1902. In 1939 it was suggested that it simply represented old individuals of C. fulgida, a view repeated as recently as 2010. C. fulgida itself has frequently been confused with the closely related C. hysoscella. Recent studies have been able to separate not only C. hysoscella (now known to be restricted to the northeast Atlantic Ocean), but also the three southeast Atlantic Chrysaora species—C. africana, C. fulgida and an undescribed species tentatively referred to as "C. agulhensis"—based on differences in their morphology and genetics".
"The last and still-undescribed species, also known by the common name Cape compass jelly, is widespread along the southern African coast from Namibia to Durban in South Africa. Although a detailed description has been published where a scientific name was proposed, it did not comply with article 8 of the ICZN Code".
Source
I took two of them home to wash and to unfurl their interior strands!
And That's All Folks!
Note: All photos are my own and taken with a Canon Powershot SX60HS camera!
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