Never Seen These Before.......

[ryork]

Have spent a bunch of hours on various waters scattered all over the place through my lifetime. Had a new experience this morning. Looked down and noticed what at first I thought were some sort of seed or flowering part of a plant that had blown in the water, until I noticed they were alive. Freshwater jellyfish, Craspedacusta sowerbyi, a hydrazoa actually from what I can tell. The Chinese call them "Peach Blossom Fish". They are invasive, but based on what I've read they rarely do any harm to a fishery or ecosystem. Apparently they have a fairly wide range established too and are quite common in some places. Anyhow, just curious how many folks have seen these things before, that was a new one on me! Caught some nice shellcracker too. This was at a private lake in the far NE corner of AL.

 

[ryork]

And what I was able to find out about them was from ten minutes of googling on the internet. Interested to see if anyone else knows more about them.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I've heard of them, but never seen them.

 

[ryork]

I've heard of them, but never seen them.

I had never heard of such a critter...... there were thousands of them.

 

[antharper]

I’ve never seen or heard of them , interesting . Maybe I’ll start looking a little harder , I for sure spend enough time on the water

 

[Anvil Head]

We used to see them in the old rock quarry in Cobb County just north of what is now Barrett Pkwy. Never noticed any in 'Toona or other big lakes.

 

[JROESEL]

So it makes you wonder, how they got into a private lake, are they aquarium released?? Is the lake creek feed? I sure don’t want them in mine, my kids wouldn’t ever get back in the water

 

[ryork]

So it makes you wonder, how they got into a private lake, are they aquarium released?? Is the lake creek feed? I sure don’t want them in mine, my kids wouldn’t ever get back in the water

It’s a series of relatively large lakes that are basically spring fed. Birds maybe?

 

[NCHillbilly]

So it makes you wonder, how they got into a private lake, are they aquarium released?? Is the lake creek feed? I sure don’t want them in mine, my kids wouldn’t ever get back in the water

They aren't dangerous to humans at all.

 

[NCHillbilly]

We used to see them in the old rock quarry in Cobb County just north of what is now Barrett Pkwy. Never noticed any in 'Toona or other big lakes.

There was apparently an outbreak of them near here in Fontana back in the late 90s. It's a big lake.

 

[Terminal Idiot]

There is a little lake between exit 13 and 14 on the 400 that can be seen from the highway. My brother and I used to canoe/fish on that lake some 30 years ago and it had thousands of little jellyfish - about the size of a quarter, or so. That was the first time I had ever seen a freshwater jellyfish and it was pretty cool.

 

[Lukikus2]

Found this. Seen them and eel migrations also.

 

[Sixes]

We have had them in our lake at work a few times over the last 20+ years

 

[TL60]

Bass bait?

 

[ryork]

Bass bait?

Might be hard to keep on the hook!

 

[TL60]

lol Doughball hook maybe?

 

[Redbow]

I don't recall ever seeing those jellyfish b4 anyplace I have been freshwater fishing. And I have drowned a lot of bait in many places while fishing fresh water.

 

[Lukikus2]

This guy may explain it well. I have often asked and no one knew.

 

[Lukikus2]

Bass bait?

Bait for a lot of fry.