These small green-brown, jelly-like blobs are very numerous off the beaches of northwestern Madagascar right now. A local fisherman told me they were early stage jellyfish. Can anyone confirm or refute this and what species might they be from? Thank you.
Probably mesoglea from jelly fish?? should be transparent and just filled with water
http://www.beachhunter.net/thingstoknow/jellyfish/mesoglea-jellyfish-body.htm
Regards
Deepak
It can even be ctenophores (sea gooseberries)
http://www.beachconnection.net/news/seags070811_235.php
Thanks, everyone. They weren't ctenophores, as far as I could tell - I couldn't see any cilia on them or any external features. When popped, they did seem to just contain a clear liquid, so they may be mesoglea. However, they were all remarkably spherical and of similar size, whereas I would imagine that mesoglea might appear in random shapes and sizes?
Several species of tropical marine green algae have a bubble-like morphology. But, this looks like the halicystis (gametophyte) stage of the green alga, Derbesia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derbesia
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