Riding in Style (that We Can't, But It's Fun to Watch)

A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09

"You know, before y'all head out of town again, we ought to see if we can get a ride on this."

Captain Almira Banneker-Jackson just put the above picture down in front of her husband, Admiral Benjamin Banneker-Jackson, and me her niece, and then joined us in laughing.

Nhyesign algae form in a distinctive crystalline pattern on the bodies of their hosts, the equally lovely Nhyesian jewel jellyfish. The relationship is symbiotic because the algae produce chlorophyll and the jellyfish produces a copper compound quite near to the composition of an old pigment called phythalo blue that the algae feeds on.

Problem A for tagging along: my uncle could have held this specimen by cupping one hand.

Problem B for tagging along, even if the specimen were big enough: Phythalo blue contains copper cyanide, and this particular variant of it produced by this jellyfish definitely is heavy on the cyanide. It is a ferocious hunter, and liberally uses its poison!

"Yes, I think I'm good on all that, Almira!" my uncle said when we had pulled up a few videos of these two fascinating creatures working together in their natural environment. "Fun to watch, but we need to hitchhike some place else!"