Jellyfish :)

I made this account back in 2020 when I was 13, and now I'm 17. In these 4 years I've really changed, so I want to create a new intro covering who I am, what I post and all that jazz, y'know?

So, my name is Judas and I'm 17. I use they/them pronouns and I am bisexual. My main goal in life right now is to get accepted into a college to become a biologist and hopefully work with jellyfish.

I am a big fan of music, listening to a lot of everything except modern country. I play quite a few instruments, including guitar, piano, bass, banjo, and trumpet, and I might post videos of me playing sometime.

I am also a big fan of gaming. I like a lot of single player games like Skyrim and Fallout, but I also like to play multiplayer games like Stardew Valley and SW Battlefront 2.

Along side those, I am an artist as well. I do a lot of drawings, mostly charcoal and graphite, but if you guys want to see me post art I can!

Fandoms I am in: Dragon Ball, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Gravity Falls, Trigun, Berserk, TES, Star Wars, and Hajime no Ippo

Fucking JELLYFISH!!!!!!! Jellyfish :3

Dude I can't explain how much I love jellyfish. I love them!! Got to see some for my birthday the other day.

Uhhh the fact is that a new moon jelly species was discovered. They're smaller than the regular ones, and the 13th species of moon jelly to have their whole life cycle described. The scientific name is Aurelia profunda. These were found in the Gulf of Mexico. Discovered in 2017, they were officially described as a unique species in the tail end of 2026.

But happy pride month everybody! This pride month is especially important. This year we should raise the voices of our trans siblings as they are actively losing theirs. It's important to remember as well that pride doesn't end in June. We don't cease to exist because it's no longer June, we continue to live. Some of the most important queer voices are those of our trans and poc siblings.

It's imperative this month to care for those who's rights are being challenged everyday. We can not sit back and be passive. We need to be proactive and not reactive. Love your trans siblings.

Be mindful this year.

So on Lake Taft in Richland, Minnesota, two people collecting water quality samples. Those two people were Kate Lucas and Kevin Menken, who work at Barr Engineering.

According to Lucas, she saw a small translucent blob alongside their canoe, and she knew it was a jellyfish right away. She got excited and told Menken about it, and proceedes to collect pictures of the specimen.

Once more, these are jellyfish from China, similar to the ones found in Iowa that I reported on last year.

This isn't the first confirmed spotting in Minnesota, as there have been other sightings, however this is the most recent one.

To delve deeper into the jellyfish found, it's the peach blossom jellyfish (scientific name craspedacusta sowerbii) which is native to the Yangtze river found in China. This species of jelly eat microfauna, so that would include animals like zooplankton for example.

This species is too small to harm people as they are simply too little. They're ~20/22 mm in diameter and their tentacles, while having stinging cells, lack the ability to pierce human skin.

They have been found quite literally around the globe, found on every continent, excluding Antartica.

Another notable example was Lake Erie, ome of the great lakes in North America. Examples outside North America include the Moscow River in 2010 and Lake Burley Griffin in Australia.

In Oskaloosa, Iowa, a teenager found a freshwater jellyfish. Now that may sound not super interesting, but Iowa doesn't have freshwater jellyfish. This is the second sighting this month. He said he caught ~20 but his father let him only keep two, meaning there are more.

Kim Bogenschutz, Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator for the Iowa DNR, says that this may be from improper dumping.

The most interesting part of this is that this freshwater jellyfish, the peach blossom jellyfish, is native to the Yangtze River in China, though they have been observed in the US since the early 1900's.

If you come across freshwater jellyfish (and they aren't Native), please alert your local DNR. They aren't dangerous to people or a threat to the native species, but scientists would like to prevent further spread!

Sources used and referenced:

I've always been into music since I was little. I've been playing guitar for 8 years, been playing bass for two, and banjo for 6 months. I've also been playing trumpet for 4 years and piano for 3. I also write my own music, though I don't post it.

I also am into art! I'm a big graphite artist. Most of my art is done on drawing paper and a mechanical pencil, though I enjoy chalk pastel and oil pastel.

I'm an avid gamer. I play mostly story games, but I enjoy online games. My favorite games are Stardew Valley, TES V: Skyrim, FO4, and Hades. I also really like For Honor and Minecraft!

I am a huge fan of sports, surprisingly. My favorite sports are boxing and soccer (football). I also do school sports. I pole vault and sprint! Sports are a big part of my life.

Because of sports, I'm a fan of working out as well. I mostly do power lifts (deadlifts, squats, and benches), but I also do standard body shaping lifts like curls and delt workouts.