Claudia Mills, the "grand duchess of jellyfish," in her office at Friday Harbor Labs on San Juan Island.
credit:
Ashley Ahearn
About 200 days a year, for more than three decades, Claudia Mills has made her way down to a dock on San Juan Island to sample jellyfish.
credit:
Ashley Ahearn
Claudia Mills spots tiny floating translucent blobs that the average beach goer (or journalist) would never pick out.
credit:
Ashley Ahearn
Eutonina Indicans is a common resident of Puget Sound
credit:
Claudia Mills
Proboscidactyla flavicirrata is about 0.5 cm in diameter. This small species eats tiny snail and bivalve larvae. Shrimp larvae catch rides on the top of this little jellyfish in the summer.
credit:
Claudia Mills
Phialidium gregarium is probably the most numerous jellyfish species in Puget Sound, but it's very transparent and a little less than an inch in diameter.