Billions of mysterious jelly-fish-like creatures wash up on beaches along the west coast of the U.S

Millions of these creatures, which ride wind and currents, were washed up in La Push - creating a virtual carpet of them on the beachMail Online – by Ted Thornhill 

They say stranger things happen at sea, but it seems stranger things happen on beaches, too.

Billions of mysterious small creatures have been washed up on beaches along the west coast of the U.S, from Southern California to British Columbia.

Needless to say, locals have been extremely curious about the invader.

The jellies, also called Vella vellas, are washing up on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Southern California. Pictured here, jellies on a beach in San Pedro, California

The jellies, also called Vella vellas, are washing up on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Southern California. Pictured here, jellies on a beach in San Pedro, California

Billions of 'by-the-wind sailors' have washed up on beaches on the West Coast of the U.S. Here, a beach in La Push, Washington is littered with their dead bodies

Billions of ‘by-the-wind sailors’ have washed up on beaches on the West Coast of the U.S. Here, a beach in La Push, Washington is littered with their dead bodies

The creatures are known as ‘by-the-wind sailors’, or their scientific name of velella velella, according to the Daily Breeze newspaper in Southern California.

The jelly-fish-like creatures each measure around seven to 10 centimetres, are bright blue and distinguished by a gas-filled float that rises above the surface of the water.

This fin-like structure means that their direction of travel depends entirely on the winds and the currents.

The number of velella that have washed up on North America’s beaches is staggering, with possibly billions stranded.

Experts find the creatures perplexing as little is known about their true nature.

The creatures are similar to jellyfish as they sting to stun their prey – though they’re not capable of causing humans much pain – and have a similar structure.

They are sustained by feeding on animal plankton and drift around in huge flotillas which can contain millions of individuals.

The creatures each measure around seven to 10 centimeters, are bright blue and distinguished by a gas-filled float that rises above the surface of the water.

This fin-like structure means that their direction of travel depends entirely on the winds and the currents.

Kevin Raskoff, professor of Biology at Monterey Peninsula College, told Scpr.org: ‘The numbers, if you extrapolate, are awe inspiring. With some of my students we counted more than a thousand per meter. The numbers get astronomical pretty fast.’

Experts find the creatures perplexing as little is known about their true nature.

The creatures are similar to jellyfish as they sting to stun their prey – though they’re not capable of causing humans much pain – and have a similar structure.

They are sustained by feeding on animal plankton and drift around in huge flotillas which can contain millions of individuals.

Travel guide Michael Ellis, writing in Bay Nature, said: ‘Even though velellas are very common and distributed throughout the oceans of the world, very little is known about the details of their life.

‘The reproductive polyps apparently bud off small medusae (miniature jellyfish-like structures) somewhere in the middle of the ocean. The medusae sink to depths of over 7,000 feet and grow gonads which produce sperm or eggs.

‘Fertilization occurs in the dark abyss. The small young develop a float, secrete gas into it and rise slowly thousands of feet to the surface. Here they glide along feeding on animal plankton that they sting with specialized cells (located on the tentacles) called nematocysts.’

Their stranding is thought to coincide with the warming up of coastal waters.

Vella vellas are similar to jellyfish in that they sting to stun their prey ¿ though they¿re not capable of causing humans much pain

Vella vellas are similar to jellyfish in that they sting to stun their prey – though they’re not capable of causing humans much pain

The jelly-fish-like creatures each measure around seven to 10 centimetres in length, are bright blue and distinguished by a gas-filled float that rises above the surface of the water

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2730616/No-room-beach-towel-BILLIONS-mysterious-jelly-fish-like-creatures-wash-beaches-west-coast-U-S.html#ixzz3B5rSHlJu
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5 thoughts on “Billions of mysterious jelly-fish-like creatures wash up on beaches along the west coast of the U.S

  1. “The number of velella that have washed up on North America’s beaches is staggering, with possibly billions stranded.”

    Billions?

    I’ve never even heard of these things before, and now we have possibly BILLIONS of dead ones on the coast?

    Fukushima, anyone?

    1. Well, King Kong is busy in NYC, while the Loch Ness monster is stuck in Scotland, so I guess Godzilla will have to conquer the West Coast all by himself. 😉

  2. Not cause humans much pain? Ha! They don’t pose much risk once they’re stranded because the tiny barbs that inject their vicious poison would have mostly been triggered by contact with the sand, but I can assure you: they deliver a nasty sting in open water.
    They’re common visitors in South African waters, whenever strong onshore winds blow. These critters are entirely at the mercy of the wind for their migrations but they do have a trick up their sleeves: they can adapt the shape of their floats so that the action of the wind will impart a starboard/port bias in their movements. And their float has a characteristic sidedness which means they tend to drift around the larger oceans more or less in a giant circle – which is just as well, otherwise they’d all have blown ashore by now and perished – like these poor fellows.

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