Jellies, part deux (2/2) - Shedd Aquarium

So here is part two of the awesome Jellies exhibit at the Shedd.  Also, go me - posting two days in a row. :)

Flower Hat Jellies

 These were awesome, but stupidly hard to photograph.  Like the Spotted Lagoons, these guys were perfectly content to lay on the floor of the exhibit and... not be interesting.  And they couldn't even lay out where they could be easily photographed.  They tucked themselves up in the corner and were difficult. :(  If you look closely at what I was able to get of them, they have awesome purple jagged stripes and florescent magenta tips on their very short tentacles.  They really are cool to look at - they had a lot more color than any of the other jellies there - they were just uncooperative as all get out.

Heading Down

 And then there were these awesome Pacific Sea Nettles.  Not exactly Portugese Man of War or anything, but very large for the specimens being shown at the exhibit.  They're probably as close to the 'classic example' of a jelly as they had.  Nice mushroom-shaped head, long, thin, flowing, outer tentacles and white ruffled inner ones.  These guys were interested in self-determination, and made an effort to move around with some kind of purpose.

Tic-Tac-Jellyfish

 I love this shot for the way the red tentacles make that nearly perfect crosshatch pattern.  That and the awesome dome shape to the top of the one in the back.

Pacific Collision

I don't know how these things never got irretrievably tangled up in each other.  But for as much as they floated around each other and through each other, they always managed to separate no matter how much of a mess they make of each other.

Jelly... bean

This is what the whole enclosure (for this particular species) looks like.  It's pretty easy to get lost just staring at them as the drift along.

Take THAT!

There's something about this particular shot that makes me think of two jellies fighting.  I know they weren't - I mean, they didn't seem to be doing more than just drifting around, but they way they intersect here just makes me think of some kind of epic jelly brawl.  I don't know why...






Okay, that's it for the jellies.  Tomorrow will be a few of the other notable species from the aquarium! :)