Thousands of blue, jellyfish-like organisms washed ashore along the San Francisco coast in the USA, according to a report by People.
Beachgoers discovered the enigmatic creatures scattered across the sand. Specialists have since identified them as velellas, also known as ‘by-the-wind sailors’ (Velella), driven in by powerful winds.
Velella are colonial marine animals, closely related to jellyfish and polyps. Unlike most polyps that anchor themselves to the seabed, the velella drifts on the water’s surface, propelled by a distinct, triangular, blue-to-purple sail. They sustain themselves by capturing plankton with tentacles dangling below the surface, and they reproduce by budding off tiny jellyfish that mature into new sailors.
Visually, the velella bears a resemblance to the highly venomous Portuguese man-of-war; however, its sting poses almost no threat to humans. Such large accumulations of these washed-up specimens are often referred to as a “blue tide.”
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