Leave it to National Geographic to bring forth this colorful specimen. It is not bioluminescent like some of my other favorite sea creatures, but the colors appear when light reflects off the cilia that propel it through the water.

This little jelly cannot be caught, for it shatters the instant it touches a net. In a sublimely poetic twist of intense fragility, this creature thwarts the ubiquitous human need to capture, categorize, and keep.

To possess it is to destroy it. No wonder it seems to harbor a grin.

I’m sure there’s a life lesson in there somewhere.