Monday, August 1, 2011

Jelly Sandwich, Anyone?

Oliver and the Jellyfish
It looks like a colorful geologic map of a volcanic island – all splayed out, its red color in stark contrast to the gray sand.

It’s a lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), the largest-known species of jellyfish.

And that’s young Oliver Pike squatting next to one that washed up on shore at Kayak Point State Park in Washington.
Oliver and his dad, Sherman, were checking out tide pools when they came across the four-foot-wide monster.
Seven-year-old Oliver wasn’t quite as down-to-earth as his father, and thought they’d stumbled upon an alien life form.
Click to Enlarge
For the record, here’s what one looks like when it’s in the water. Beautiful, huh? Larger specimens can grow up to eight feet in diameter. Yikes!

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