Southern California has recently experienced an influx of palm-sized, blueish-purplish, jellyfish-like creatures washing ashore.
Although not considered dangerous to humans, a marine biologist who posted a video online after discovering the creatures off the California coast advised people to look but not touch them because they have tentacles that can slightly sting.
Thousands of Velella velella, commonly known as By the Wind Sailors, have washed ashore along the Southern California coast, including at Huntington Beach, Zuma Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Salt Creek Beach, as well as further north.
The wind blows in these cousins of the jellyfish, but they can’t survive long out of water.
The creatures have a unique physical adaptation. Their body is divided into two parts, one half adapted for water and the other half for air. Beneath the water’s surface, they possess mesmerizing, pulsing blue tentacles. Above the water, they have a waterproof living sail that harnesses the wind’s power.
Despite their jelly-like appearance, By-the-Wind Sailors are colonial hydroids, consisting of a colony of tiny creatures. They feed on algae and zooplankton and are a favorite meal for sunfish, according to Dana Wharf Whale Watching.
“They do have stinging cells that hang down in the water. So, if you see these on the beach, it’s okay to hold them by their sail, but I would avoid touching the stinging cells,” said a marine biologist who identified herself as Nona the Naturalist.
“For most humans, it doesn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t touch those,” she continued. “When they’re in the water, they’re at the mercy of the currents and winds that blow them around.”
Beachgoers have described them as looking like “deflated balloons” or pieces of plastic, and they begin to lose their color as they dry on land.
Southern California residents previously said that this is a natural occurrence that has happened before. In 2014, they washed up overnight at Hollywood and Silverstrand beaches in Oxnard, baffling visitors to the shore.
