If you’ve been to a beach in the Grand Strand lately, you might have noticed thousands of little clear blobs scattered across the sand. But what are the colorless, gelatinous creatures?
The strange clear blobs may resemble jellyfish, but salps are actually a kind of gelatinous zooplankton that can grow several inches long. Here’s what you need to know about salps, why they’re here and if they’re dangerous for you or your family.
What are salps?
Unlike jellyfish, which are cnidarians like sea anemones and corals, salps are chordates — a classification they share with humans.
“Salps actually, this will sound a little odd, they’re our cousins. They are very simple members of the phylum chordata,” said Coastal Carolina University marine science professor Juliana Harding…