Millions of bizarre, blue sea creatures wash up on Northern California shores

Going to the beach in Northern California is a little more, let’s say, “interesting” this spring, as the sand in many places has been replaced with squishy, electric-blue carpets of jellylike sea creatures.

Sightings of the bizarre animals, known as Velella velella or “by-the-wind sailors,” run as far north as Tomales Bay and south as Monterey. “Millions dead down here in Monterey,” one person reported this weekend on Facebook. “Up and down the beach for as far as you can see in both directions.”

By-the-wind-sailors typically live and feed farther out in the Pacific. But some years around spring, the wind and likely warmer ocean waters drive them in spectacular numbers to the West Coast. They were out in force in Southern California last April, for example, and before that during the warm El Niño years of 2014 through 2016.

The creatures can get up to 3 inches long but — despite looking like a single, blobby friend — are built of a colony of smaller entities called polyps. These polyps join together and build a single “sail” so they can coast around the waves, feeding by dipping their stingers into the water to capture plankton to digest in a communal digestive system. They don’t sting humans, but may irritate the skin if handled.

“During spring and early summer months, Point Reyes seaside visitors may come across thousands of by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella) stranded on the beach,” the Point Reyes National Seashore announced last week. “These blue jellyfish-like creatures use their translucent, triangular sails to free-float around the ocean. Their sailing routes are determined by prevailing winds, and a shift in these breezes can spell bad news for these little seafarers — if the wind is too strong in the wrong direction, they can get blown onshore and will die.”

Mass die-offs have occurred around Point Reyes and Muir Beach near San Francisco, covering shorelines in crunchy, translucent membranes the lackluster color of old toenails. Meanwhile, new hordes continue to wash up around Carmel and Monterey, causing one local on Facebook to wonder this weekend: “Blue guys? Can they be cooked and eaten? Collected for decoration? Kept as pets? I’m confused!” (Answers: No. Probably not. Definitely not. Yes, you are!)