Watch: Paddleboarder finds mysterious sea creature while exploring waters off California
A paddleboarder found a string of gelatinous marine creatures off Dana Point, California, that was clear like glass but gooey like jelly with a visible notochord.
Watch: Paddleboarder finds mysterious sea creature off California coast
A paddleboarder found a strange, clear but gelatinous marine creature while just off the Southern California coast. (Video: @paddlegoat via Storyful)
DANA POINT, Calif. – What's transparent like glass but gooey like jelly and swims in the Pacific Ocean near California?
A paddleboarder exploring the waters off Southern California's Dana Point recently found out for himself.
"What is that?" Bill Clements wondered on camera as he picked up a string of the gelatinous marine creatures. "Looks like some sort of salp."
Sea salp found off Dana Point, California.
(@paddlegoat via Storyful / FOX Weather)
Clements told Storyful that the bioluminescent creature "appeared to be a single organism, but when I took a closer look, it was a chain of organisms all connected to one another. So interesting!"
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Despite their appearance, salps, also known as sea squirts, are not related to jellyfish, according to Storyful. A notochord running down their backs places them in the family of vertebrate animals.