Beachcombing - By the Wind Sailors

We've seen thousands of these By-the-Wind-Sailors washing in with the strong southeast winds. The small blue polyps with sails are not true jellyfish, but are very similar to the man-o-war, without the intense sting. Watch this episode of Beachcombing with Jace Tunnell to learn more about why these are washing up on our local beaches.
Learn more about the Beachcombing series and the work being done at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at www.harteresearch.org!

[@daveemilio67]

I just discovered these this week on a trip to Monterey CA. I thought at first they were soft shell muscles or something. So I looked them up based on a photo I took and ended up here. Very interesting.

[@HarteResearch]

Awesome! They are such a cool animal! Jace

[@sarahevans6008]

I had to research these after seeing TONS of them at Samoa beach in Humboldt County a couple days ago… they were way bigger here though.

[@HarteResearch]

Awesome! They are so pretty when you find the large ones! Thanks! Jace

[@exotic2raw]

So many in Southern California and they all seem at least an inch

[@johnmitchell2247]

Nice, thanks

[@rudigerbirnschein7453]

Today I found Velella Velella on the beach of Lloret de Mar.

[@HarteResearch]

Awesome! That's great. Thanks! Jace

[@coreygruber8381]

Palm size in oceanside very neat to look at the local anemones dont like their taste watched a couple spit them out in the current lol

[@user-lf2mz6ni6t]

I hope you don't get run by a car. LOL!