by-the-wind sailor

From: Bob Prevett (prevett@nvidia.com-DeleteThis.com)
Date: Sat Apr 13 2002 - 10:17:08 PDT


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From: Bob Prevett <prevett@nvidia.com-DeleteThis.com>
To: "'wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com'" <wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com>
Subject: by-the-wind sailor
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 10:17:08 -0700
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)


While sailing on the coast the other day, the surface of the water was
covered with thousands of these little creatures that looked like tiny
sailboats. They were flat blue ovals that floated flat on water with a
vertical clear sail sticking up along their centerline. And they really did
sail along the water with the wind, like a sailboat on a broad reach.

As a kid on vacation in Florida, I learned to not touch blue jellyfish
looking creatures; Portuguese man-o-war pack quite a sting. So, I tried not
fall while in the fleets of those mini-sailboats.

I had never seen these things before; turns out they are a type of jellyfish
called a "by-the-wind" sailor, "velella velella", that often get blown in
from the open ocean by springtime winds. And, it turns out that their sting
is not poisonous to humans.

Bob

http://www.earthwindow.com/velella.html



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