Jellyfish in the Gowanus Canal

Last week we noted photos of a heron and fish in the Gowanus. Today, we bring you jellyfish. A GL reader, who used to produce the fun blog Random Brooklyn, sent in the photo above and the one below of a Gowanus jellyfish. (Insert appropriate snark here.) She writes:

I was crossing the 3rd Street bridge, like I do everyday, twice a day and saw these strange looking jellyfish happily swimming southward. There were quite literally DOZENS of them, bobbing about in the water. I assumed they were dead, until I saw their little jellyfish bodies actually swimming! Some dove underwater and came back up...They were about 3 or so inches in diameter, with BRIGHT RED bodies and white tentacles, or whatever it is jellyfish have. I am only assuming they are jellyfish.

So far, I have seen a giant jellyfish, a giant horseshoe crab, a bunch of little fishies, a swan, human waste, and sewage. The jellyfish are new.

Like any creature spotted on the Gowanus, the jellyfish have been noted by others. Dope on the Slope yesterday linked to this flickr shot of the jellyfish floating in the surface oil which leaks at an alarming rate into the Gowanus from a location near the Union Street Bridge.