WE CAN EASILY... and quickly relate to otters -- they're mammals like us, after all -- and to certain fish, which have two eyes, just like we humans, and dolphins, because they can pretty much do basic trigonometry and accounting, or so it is said. But there's one creature of the deep, a diaphanous being who comes in many iterations and forms, who is so far out of our easy-to-grok-to league that we can't fully wrap our minds around it, even if we're standing just feet away. It's the jellyfish, of course, a beastie that looks like it arrived here from the other side of the Milky Way, on a specially built jellyfish spaceship. There are many types of jellies -- hello crown jelly, comb jelly, egg yolk jelly, purple-striped jelly -- so we would never dare lump 'em all as one. But as a unit, they mystify, perplex, and very deeply delight. You don't need to see them in person, behind a wall of glass, to get that mystified buzz; you can watch a jelly cam, a live jelly cam, to boot, via the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The institution just introduced its Live Jelly Cam, which is part of the popular Jellies Experience, and, for sure, there is some strange gelatinous action going down on that thing.
LIKE... jellies drifting, turning, floating, and basically behaving in all the ways that seem distinctly alien to humankind. Which is why it makes a wonderful and peaceful watch. Call it a break in your busy, screen-filled day, or call it an impetus to visit Monterey and see the strangeness up-close. Beautiful strangeness, of course. Want to eye for yourself? The "mesmerizing sea nettles" are drifting before our amazed eyes each day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Pacific Time. Watch now.
NEED MORE? Get your jelly facts here. Did you know they're "more than 95% water"? Yep, they've definitely come from across the Milky Way, or at least in our happy jelly-themed daydreams. More marvelous than that, though is that they are truly our co-earthlings.
