# Salp: a translucent chain of fish/jellyfish-like sea animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158 "2016-09-28T22:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/1 "2016-09-28T22:02:38Z")
I know my way around weird animals, yet I had never heard of salp, plural salps. [They are translucent animals of about 2-4 inches, and they live in the sea in chains](http://awesomejelly.com/the-strange-transparent-fish-that-is-the-sea-salp/) of hundreds of animals, all brothers, who later become all sisters. They are becoming more and more plentiful, and are occasionally so plentiful they slime whole beaches. They are _weird_. [Link to Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salp)that will probably set you off on an Internet search about salps. You can thank me later. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/2 "2016-09-28T22:36:59Z")
Fun fact: they’re a type of tunicate, which is in the chordata phylum. This means that they are more related to humans than they are jellyfish and other assorted translucent sea creatures. Other tunicates [look very different](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunicate). Some even [look weird in a different direction](http://grist.org/animals/crazy-living-rock-is-one-of-the-weirdest-creatures-weve-ever-seen/). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/3 "2016-09-28T23:16:56Z")
A few years ago there was a salp invasion at the Jersey Shore. Millions of them in the surf. Feeling them slide past me gave me the willies. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/4 "2016-09-28T23:19:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > A few years ago there was a salp invasion at the Jersey Shore. Millions of them in the surf. Feeling them slide past me gave me the willies. And the salps were pretty gross as well! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/5 "2016-09-29T20:55:26Z")
[sub]Psst! No one tell **Loach** that those were really condoms.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/6 "2016-09-30T14:01:15Z")
Very funny. I know condoms feel different. [http://newjersey.news12.com/news/slimy-salps-also-known-as-sea-walnuts-invade-jersey-shore-beaches-1.8875517](http://newjersey.news12.com/news/slimy-salps-also-known-as-sea-walnuts-invade-jersey-shore-beaches-1.8875517) There’s a story from a few years ago. I saw that someone described it like swimming through Gummi Bears. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/7 "2016-09-30T14:11:25Z")
Jelly fish-like [creatures really have been increasing in numbers lately in all seas](http://qz.com/133251/jellyfish-are-taking-over-the-seas-and-it-might-be-too-late-to-stop-them/). Even becoming pests. Ecologists say they fill the gaps left by overfishing. Still, jellyfish are fascinating creatures. I was on vacation in Italy this spring (One -very- long day’s drive from where I live) and the beach there was littered with millions of little Vellela jellyfish. [Vellela’s or “by the wind sailors”](http://jellywatch.org/velella) are beautiful, delicate little creatures, like something out of a fairy tale. The have a cornflower blue tiny body, the shape and size of a flower, and a little glass-like transparent tri-angular sail that sticks out above the water and acts as a little sail, transporting the Vellelas across the oceans. We had a inflatable boat and went behind the surf to see the vellela still alive, still in their element. Every seventh wave was crested with a little sail catching the sun. I looked it up and it turns out this massive crashing of vellella occurred maybe once every twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salp-a-translucent-chain-of-fish-jellyfish-like-sea-animals/767158/8 "2016-09-30T16:10:15Z")
What a wonderful world!