Salps sea jelly beans: UNSW scientist

Slimy globs on the sand is how most beachgoers know salps.

The gelatinous zooplankton has been described as the jelly bean of the sea by researchers who say the organism is showing no signs of decline amid warming ocean conditions.

Most ocean fish species love to eat them, much in the same way that humans love to eat jelly beans, UNSW Australia marine biologist Professor Iain Suthers said.

Salps commonly wash up on Australian beaches throughout spring in numbers sometimes reaching into thousands and play an important role in filtering carbon.

"These astonishing creatures have the ability to increase their size by five per cent per hour, and range in size from the tip of a little finger to a shoebox," Prof Suthers said.

"They can survive between two weeks and three months before being eaten by mackerel and tuna, or slowly falling to the sea floor where they collect in vast tonnages."

Researchers at the CSIRO's Hobart-based Marine National facility have looked at the occurrence of salps, which feed on phytoplankton, as part of investigations across the Southern, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Data collected over recent years and compared to that from the 1940s has shown no significant shift in the numbers of salps.

Professor Suthers has even had a taste, describing the salp as salty, and more nutritious than normal jellyfish.