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| Canoeists on Ijams Quarry Lake |
Anyone for jelly babies? Well, actually they are not babies but full-grown adults.
I expected we'd see herons and turtles on our canoe trip on Ijams Quarry Lake this morning, but I didn't believe we'd find the rare freshwater jellyfish that appear occasionally. Afterall, we found them on last month's canoe trip and even that seemed late in the season to me. The medusas' appearances called "blooms" are sporadic and unpredictable from year to year. It usually happens during the hot weather of the late summer months, or a least that's what I believed.
I expected we'd see herons and turtles on our canoe trip on Ijams Quarry Lake this morning, but I didn't believe we'd find the rare freshwater jellyfish that appear occasionally. Afterall, we found them on last month's canoe trip and even that seemed late in the season to me. The medusas' appearances called "blooms" are sporadic and unpredictable from year to year. It usually happens during the hot weather of the late summer months, or a least that's what I believed.
Yet, even on a cool morning in mid-October we found them.
Freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbyi) are not native to North America. They first appeared in the lake at Ijams in 1997. Since then, I've always thought they were rare, yet on two canoe trips in a row, we have found them.
Freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbyi) are not native to North America. They first appeared in the lake at Ijams in 1997. Since then, I've always thought they were rare, yet on two canoe trips in a row, we have found them.
The small bell-shaped jellies—about the diameter of a U.S. penny in their hydromedusa stage—are virtually transparent and as wispy as the Smoky Mountains' smoke.
They look like bubbles, bobbing up and down, undulating underwater; one of the most ephemeral lifeforms I've ever seen or written about. Here one minute and gone the next, and surprise, surprise, they were here again this morning.
What did Yogi say, "It's like déjà vu all over again."
The next guided canoe trip of the quarry lake is scheduled for Saturday, November 12 at 10:30 a.m. To register for it call 577-4717, ext. 119.
- Story and text by Stephen Lyn Bales.
They look like bubbles, bobbing up and down, undulating underwater; one of the most ephemeral lifeforms I've ever seen or written about. Here one minute and gone the next, and surprise, surprise, they were here again this morning.
What did Yogi say, "It's like déjà vu all over again."
The next guided canoe trip of the quarry lake is scheduled for Saturday, November 12 at 10:30 a.m. To register for it call 577-4717, ext. 119.
- Story and text by Stephen Lyn Bales.
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| Canoe Trip Group |
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