Thousands of Mystery Creatures Invading Beach (Video)

Thousands of palm-sized jellyfish-like creatures washed up Tuesday night at a beach in Southern California, baffling visitors.

These palm-size, blueish-purplish, jellyfish-like creatures washed up overnight at Hollywood and Silverstrand beaches in Oxnard, baffling visitors to the shore.

One long time resident identified them as “sailors of the sea.”

But the scientific name for the distant relative of the jellyfish is Velella velella. Unlike jellyfish, however, experts say these animals don’t have a sting -- some beachgoers were still wary, and were careful not to touch them.

Velella velella are blown in by the wind, but they can’t survive long on the shore. And residents say this is a natural occurrence that has happened before.

A couple of weeks ago there were similar sighting, but many here say they’ve never seen anything quite like this. The local fire department couldn’t even identify them.