Thousands of blue and purple jelly-like creatures wash up on Ventura County beaches – NBC Los Angeles
Thousands of blue and purple sea creatures have been washing ashore in Ventura County beaches.
These strange looking creatures are known as Velella velellas. They are related to jellyfish as well as sea anemones, corals, and hydroids, according to the National Park Service.
These oval-shaped creatures are about four inches long with a triangular “sail” attached to it.
According to the Channel Islands Harbor, the Velella’s sail is S-shaped at its base and is attached to the body diagonally. Dangling from its body are numerous blue tentacles which contain stinging cells (cnidocysts, also called nematocysts) to help capture the Velella’s food.
However, their stinging cells are rarely harmful to humans.
Velella is an offshore animal which lives on the surface of the water. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans, primarily copepods, the Channel Islands Harbor said.
These little creatures also washed ashore around May 2024.
The Velella Velellas, which are dependent on the wind and their tiny sails to move around the ocean, show up in big numbers during spring as the ocean warms and produces more bacteria, according to Josh Wagner from the Aquarium of the Pacific.
“We get a bacterial bloom which causes lots of nutrients to be in the water and so more nutrients means there are more things to eat. If there’s more things to eat, there’s more reproduction,” Wagner says.
The wind then pushes more of them ashore where they lose their blue color and die.
Wagner says although climate change has possibly caused them to show up in larger numbers, their appearance isn’t all that unusual. But it’s probably not a good idea to pick them up.
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