One of the things that I have always found to be facinating about the Baja California Peninsula, in general, and the Sea of Cortez, in particular, is the abundance and variety of wildlife one can observe and enjoy. Lacking a working camera has made some of our experiences nearly impossible to capture. We were particularly surprised the other afternoon, we saw two specimens of a jellyfish I'd never seen before.
Once back aboard, we googled blue jellyfish in the Sea of Cortez and were surprised to find that what we had observed is a newly identified species of jellyfish, with the common name of blueberries. Specimens of this species were observed the Sea of Cortez in 2012 and a live jelly was sent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for identification. It was determined that this was a newly identified species of Stomolophus.
While decomposed specimens were discovered in 2010, it wasn't until last year (2012) that live specimens were examined by experts around the world and they were determined to be a newly identified species. Such is one of the many lures of cruising in the pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez. It truely is the aquarium of the world.
