Blue suns galore

Yesterday at low tide, a long wavy, blue-studded tide mark ran the length of the beach, about halfway between low- and high-tide limits.

For each step I took along this mid-tide mark, there were about five or ten deceased Blue suns (aka Blue buttons; Porpita porpita), a little bright-blue 'jellyfish' in various sizes about as big as a small coin. There were many thousands of them, washed up during a Nor-easter, I would guess.

Check out these beautiful photos of P porpita, which will depict their beauty far more than your almanackist could ever do with words.

Unlike their relative, the well-known Bluebottle, also common after Nor-easters on NSW beaches, these ones won't sting you unless you're smaller than them. As there are quite a few people on Sandy today (because it's so hot, already about 30 degrees), that'll be a blessing to the swimmers. Like the Bluebottle, each Blue sun is a float above a colony of little critters. The whitish float has the ability to eat, but so do the tiny blue creatures in the colony. All in all, a complicated and mystifying arrangement.

I'm going for a flaneur a bit later, when the sand isn't too hot for my tootsies. See you soon.