These sea salps are tiny jelly-like creatures (but they are not jellyfish) that glom together to make a bigger mass. They are a nuisance to commercial salmon fishermen when the fishing lines pass through areas where the sea salps are floating.
Some years, warmer southern currents come farther north and the salps float along with the currents into colder waters where they are not usually common.
When they coat the gear, the fish can’t find the lures (and the hooks), so the salps have to be cleaned off the gear constantly or no salmon will be caught.
They are harmless otherwise. Unlike some jellyfish they don’t have any sting when they are touched.
J is for “just a jellyfish lookalike.”


December 10, 2024 at 12:41 am
They look like a type of seaweed. Interesting post, Anneli. Cheers.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:21 am
They do, but they are definitely on the animal side of the chart.
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December 10, 2024 at 2:58 am
Thanks for teaching me about salps, Anneli. I can imagine they would hamper the fisherman’s efforts. Happy Tuesday. Allan
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December 10, 2024 at 10:21 am
They were a real nuisance, gumming up the lines, over and over.
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December 10, 2024 at 5:17 am
How interesting! I’ve never heard of them, and I’m not sure we have anything like them — except, perhaps, for the Sargasso weed, which also can be a nuisance when it appears.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:23 am
Different parts of the world have different “critters.” These guys were unusual up north. The warm currents went farther north than usual that year and brought all kinds of things they don’t usually see up there (sun fish, turtles, great whites).
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December 10, 2024 at 6:46 am
Thanks, dear Anneli 🙏 🙏
We never heard about these sea salps because we live on the coast of a cold sea. Unfortunately, we have jellyfish – not many but enough to be a nuisance on some days.
Keep well
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 :-):-)
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December 10, 2024 at 10:24 am
Jellyfish can be a real nuisance too, and they can tolerate colder water than the salps usually do.
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December 10, 2024 at 7:31 am
Curious little creatures. Interesting post, Anneli.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:19 am
Thanks, Belinda.
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December 10, 2024 at 7:45 am
These are great photos that show what sea salps look like. I have never seen them before. So no matter how old we get there is always something new to learn. Looking forward to your next letter post, Anneli.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:19 am
On a google search they show up a lot as being in Australian waters. It was unusual to see them on the north coast of BC.
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December 10, 2024 at 7:50 am
I’ve never heard of a Salp. The spell check hasn’t either! I can see why they would be annoying.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:18 am
If you google “sea salp” you should be able to find it.
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December 10, 2024 at 12:23 pm
I did look the organism up, it has a weird lifecycle and seems to live in all water temperatures.
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December 10, 2024 at 12:28 pm
It’s a strange one, all right.
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December 10, 2024 at 12:31 pm
🫣😂
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December 10, 2024 at 7:55 am
Never heard of these. Interesting.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:15 am
They are actually quite small, but they stick together like a colony and make bigger clumps.
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December 10, 2024 at 8:06 am
I have never seen them before but they look pretty. I think that fisherman don´t agree with me. I am learning a lot while we are getting every day another animal or plant to look at.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:14 am
Most people around here have never heard of them because they are more of a warm-water-phenomenon. The Captain couldn’t get these off his fishing lines one year when the warm currents came farther north to the colder waters of the Queen Charlotte Islands where he was fishing.
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December 10, 2024 at 10:56 am
I’m not a fan of jellyfish from my scuba days, Anneli, but I could see myself swimming with these. They do seem like quite a nuisance for fisherman. What a pain to have them sticking to everything! Thanks for introducing me to a new creature I was unfamiliar with.
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December 10, 2024 at 11:01 am
They might be an inspiration for a charmed sea creature in another book – some kind of characters that stick together and grow into a formidable challenge. Just reminded myself of the movie from the days before you were born – The Blob.
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December 10, 2024 at 11:56 am
Yes, seeing a blob of them would be a little icky, maybe.
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December 10, 2024 at 12:29 pm
I can imagine some of your strange, magical underwater creatures attacking someone by glomming onto them. Eeeeee!
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December 10, 2024 at 12:38 pm
LOL. So funny.
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December 12, 2024 at 5:19 pm
Very interesting, Anneli.
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December 12, 2024 at 6:43 pm
Thanks, Carol. I had never heard of these things until the Captain showed me the pictures of what they went through that summer, clearing them off the fishing lines.
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December 16, 2024 at 4:52 am
So interesting.
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