Salpa Maggiore: See-through Sea Salps

I was just reading an article about how a fisherman stumbled upon a bizarre sea creature swimming close to the surface, in water north of New Zealand. It was see-through and/or translucent, and it evidently threw the guy for a loop (confused him), going by what I read. While being dumbfounded by it all, he captured it. This weird-looking critter was later identified as the Salpa Maggiore, more commonly known as Sea Salps (a.k.a. Sea Grapes). If you'd like to see some cool photos of the Salp in question, go here: www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/bizarre-see-through-sea-creature-baffles-angler/ [unfortunately, this link is no longer active]

Anyway, it reminded me of a post I did earlier, about the ghost shrimp. It is not really that uncommon for certain types of aquatic life to appear to be see-through, though. It pretty much acts as a camouflage for the water, which makes perfect sense when thinking about a nifty defense mechanism for survival along with an easier way to catch prey, etc. Many jellyfishes and hydrozoans have this property, as well. Although it is not totally translucent, a good example of such, is the poisonous "Portuguese Man-of-War." To get a better idea what this sea creature is about, go here: exotic-life-creatures.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-poisonous-portuguese-man-of-war.html

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons - Altered by MS Paint - Source = en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salp

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