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.”
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!”
GLOWING REVIEW: EXPLORING THE BEAUTY OF BIOLUMINESCENCE
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.