Global Courant 2023-04-11 05:06:52
Thousands of dark blue creatures have washed up on beaches across the state, littering the shorelines and baffling passersby from Marin to Orange County.
The oval-shaped, flat creatures with tiny blue tentacles may look like tiny jellyfish, but are actually hydroids called Velella velella, more commonly known as “sailors by the wind.”
With a sturdy, transparent sail that runs over the top of their bodies, the sea creatures travel in large numbers to the top of the open sea, afloat with the help of winds that have recently pushed thousands of them to California beaches.
On Sunday, hundreds of Velella Velella surrounded both sides of a boatload of second-class whale watchers just off Dana Point during an excursion with Dana Wharf Whale Watching, said Nona Reimer, a former teacher who now works to train travelers at the company.
“We’re seeing hundreds, probably thousands,” she said. “It’s unusual to see them in these numbers.”
On Monday, California State Parks reported that the invertebrates have washed up at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach, and the sailing bodies have been spotted as far north as Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco. They have also been spotted in San Clemente, Manhattan Beach, and along other Southern California beaches.
Small numbers of the animals will usually wash up unnoticed in the spring and summer, but Bruno Pernet, a professor of biological sciences at Cal State Long Beach, said every few years, food conditions will push their numbers up and the wind will drive them to shore.
“It’s not uncommon, but it happens every few years,” he said.
The tiny animals are completely at the mercy of wind and ocean currents and food supplies, Pernet said, and conditions sometimes take them along the coasts in northern and southern California. Warmer water could provide them with sufficient food.
Scientists believe the animals got their deep blue color as a kind of camouflage against predators.
Downwind sailors are related to jellyfish and the Portuguese man o’ war, which can cause a painful sting, but their tentacles are usually harmless, Pernet said.
However, officials warn that tolerance can vary from person to person, so it may be best not to touch the tentacles if they are seen on the sand.
Pernet also points out that the animals are known to be “right- or left-handed,” meaning their sails point slightly to one side or the other. They also tend to congregate within the same group, so chances are the groups of sailors that have washed ashore in recent days are usually all right or left handed.
On a Saturday trip, Reimer, who goes by Nona the Naturalist, noticed Instagram that hundreds of Velella velella were spotted in the water, attracted other animals that wanted to feast on them and moved closer to shore.
It’s been about four or five years since she last remembered a good number of them so close to shore.
“The water is also full of hundreds of these organisms,” she says in the video posted Saturday, where she is seen holding them by the clear sail. “They have stinging cells on their tentacles that hang down when they’re on the water, so if you see them on the beach it’s okay to hold them by their sail.”
