marine life on the rocky shores of gallipoli
Posted by rocksea and sarah on 07 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: italy, photography, prakriti
Italy is full of towering historical edifices, and during our euro-mediterranean adventures, we were enchanted to see that it has a rich marine life too. It was a warm afternoon at Gallipoli, south of Italy. We went to swim and feel the Ionian Sea, but soon found ourselves studying the marine life thriving on the rocky shores.
Marine Life & Colors under splashing waves @ Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy
… along came a jellyfish
We were in the sea while this jellyfish floated by, along with some non-aquatic plants. We were amazed by the beautiful red floral like patterns on its umbrella. The externally visible patterns match to the Pelagia noctiluca, a toxic, stinging jellyfish, commonly known as the mauve stinger in the Mediterranean. The mauve stinger has the ability to glow in the dark [nocti = night, luca = light]. However, we didn’t find any protruding tentacles on its body and we are not sure if it is the mauve stinger itself.
A closeup of the floral patterns on the mediterranean jellyfish. Jellyfish are known as medusa in Italian, attributing to the greek mythical sea nymph of the same name.
coral like formation on the rocky shores, with white ‘flower’ crests
hide and seek… a mediterranean crab cozily camoflagued in its rocky surroundings
— More of what we captured @ Gallipoli —
Gallipoli is a small town in Salento, southern Italy, in the Puglia region. It is located by the Ionian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean. Less than 1 hour by train, from Lecce, capital of Puglia.
The beaches of Salento are marvellous, with white sandy beaches and intermittent rocky shores like these. Portrayed in the local dialect, Lu Salentu, lu sule lu mare lu ientu [Salento, the sun, the sea, the wind].
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2 Comments »
on 08 Jul 2008 at 12:25 am 1.Anoop John said …
Before you touch one of them, make sure it is indeed not dangerous. I have heard that some of these are very dangerous and almost always very painful if stung. Well you would know better. Very good photos
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rocksea replied on July 8th, 2008 12:46 am:
Yes, we didn’t touch it directly and carried it along with the plants. Took some photographs and left it back into the sea. Most probably the one in the picture could inflict painful stings. In the recent years, the mediterranean seas saw several swarms of jellyfish wiping out fish and posing danger to other marine life and humans. This is attributed to the rising ocean temperatures.
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