An interesting find in the Alsea Bay

(Photo courtesy of the Port of Alsea)

A recreational crabber pulling up their pots at the Port of Alsea during the last weekend of September had something more than crab in his catch and told a maintenance worker at the port, who snapped this photo. The jelly-fish like creatures pictured above are called salps. Bill Hanshumaker, a senior instructor at the Hatfield Marine Science Center said that these creatures are filter feeders who feed on plankton. There is no commercial market for salps, he said.