Hundreds of thousands of tiny sea creatures wash ashore in California. What are they?

Tiny blue blobs are washing up by the hundreds of thousands on beaches from California to British Columbia, experts say.

Known as velella velella or by-the-wind sailors, the blobs are not jellyfish but colonies of polyps similar to the Portuguese man o’ war, according to JellyWatch.

Marine biologist Carolyn Belak reported finding up to a million on Trinidad State Beach in Northern California, SFGate said.

The iNaturalist website shows dozens of reports of by-the-wind sailors washing up on beaches up and down the Pacific Ocean coastline in recent weeks.

Numerous photos posted to Facebook also show the tiny sea creatures on beaches.

“Have you ever dreamed of sailing across the Pacific Ocean, but you can’t afford a 40 foot sail boat? Yeah, same here!” read a post by California State Parks North Coast Redwoods. “Well this fascinating friend is designed to do just that!”

Photos with a Point Reyes Station post on Facebook show thousands of velella velella scattered on Santa Maria Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Velella velella feed on on planktonic crustaceans using their tentacles, but they are not dangerous to humans, the National Park Service said.

“I probably still wouldn’t pick one up and put it on your face,” Belak told SFGate.

They ride on the surface of the water, catching the wind with translucent “sails” that sit upright on their oval bodies, JellyWatch reports.

“The name ‘by-the-wind-sailor’ is really a misnomer for this little animal,” the National Park Service said.

Velella velella don’t actually navigate using their sails, leaving their course at the mercy of the wind — which is how so many end up beached in springtime.

“They’re clear and they’re kind of blue, which is sort of a form of camouflage, of course, so they do blend in quite well with the surface of the water, especially in the middle of the ocean where it’s a blue,” Belak told SFGate. “But you can definitely see them, and oh, my goodness, it’s exciting.”

Strong winds typically wash thousands up on California beaches each year.

“This has been the highest year on record for sea surface temperature,” Belak told SFGate. “And so winter temperatures have been high, and they’ve had the opportunity to bloom. Then with this amount of wind we’re currently having, they’re getting blown on shore.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2024 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Hundreds of thousands of tiny sea creatures wash ashore in California. What are they?."