AC Unit vs. Jellies (Part II)

Rockport Harbor

A year ago I wrote about moon jellies (Part l) clogging up the strainer on our air condition intake. This year the problem is worse, the culprits are larger...this year it's cabbage heads. They're too large to be totally sucked in, so they come apart and get stuck in the line. Pieces and parts of them get hung up in the thru hull…here’s a picture of what our thru hull looks like. A gooey slimy jellyfish can plug these up faster than Stan can clean them out! When the thru hull and strainer get plugged…our cool air stops blowing, that's not a good thing in South Texas this time of year.

Cabbage Head is another name for the Cannonball jellyfish. Their dome-shaped bell can reach 10” in diameter and the rim is sometimes colored with brown pigment. Underneath the body is a cluster of oral arms that extend out around the mouth. These arms function as a way of propulsion and aid in catching prey. 

Cannonballs live in warm, estuarine waters, with an average temperature of 73.6° and are found along North America's eastern seaboard all the way to Brazil, but are also found in parts of the Pacific. One of the main predators of cannonball jellyfish is the endangered leatherback sea turtle (I think we need more turtles). 

Cannonball jellyfish are commercially harvested as food for humans. Along the southern coast of Georgia, jellyfish are a valuable export, which end up on dining tables across Asia. They are dried, preserved and packaged before being sold to a seafood distributor that ships them to Japan, China, and Thailand. Recently, the blooms of jellyfish have increased along the Mexican coast. In 2012 20,000 tons ($3.5 million worth) were harvested from late April to early July. I’m thinking this could be a good opportunity for someone in Texas to make a little money and help the boating community stay cool.

Rockport Harbor

Cabbage Head (Cannonball)