Glittering blue creatures are washing up on California beaches. Here's why

Professional lensman Emily Scher told NPR she came crossed tens of thousands of glittering Velella velella connected a agelong of soil betwixt Zuma and Broad beaches successful Malibu, Calif. Emily Scher/emilyscherphotography.com hide caption

toggle caption

Emily Scher/emilyscherphotography.com

California beaches person been the tract of immoderate ghastly scenes this year. Dying oversea lions, dolphins, seagulls, pelicans and adjacent a minke whale person washed up connected the sands from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

But lately, beachgoers person been treated to a beauteous marine beingness wonder: Hundreds of thousands of glittering Velella velella, besides known arsenic by-the-wind sailors, oversea rafts, purple sails and small sails, person washed ashore up and down the California coast.

The tiny creatures look similar oval mini-sailboats that tin turn up to 4 inches long. Their gelatinous bases tin scope successful colour from vibrant bluish to heavy purple, and they person transparent triangular "sail" connected top. It's what allows them to beryllium blown crossed the aboveground of the unfastened oversea wherever they typically unrecorded — and with beardown capable winds, onto coastal sands.

"They looked similar bluish diamonds strewn crossed the beach. It was similar these gems, and they're truthful superb blue," Emily Scher gushed implicit a telephone interrogation with NPR.

Scher, a nonrecreational photographer, lives successful Malibu and precocious came upon tens of thousands of velella portion connected a sunset motorcycle thrust from Zuma to Broad beaches — a agelong of much than a twelve miles. She captured the small beauties with her camera.

"It was similar a carpet. I've ne'er seen truthful many. And truthful I thought, wouldn't it beryllium chill to get a changeable with Point Doom successful the distance? So I took 1 of those," she said.

Indeed, the photo, a close-up of a azygous velella mildly cupped successful Scher's hand, is cool.

"It astir looks similar a fingerprint erstwhile you look astatine it up close," Scher said of the Velella's, plastic-like sail.

Emily Scher told NPR she was delighted to spot the instrumentality of velellas successful Malibu. "They looked similar bluish diamonds strewn crossed the beach. It was similar these gems, and they're truthful superb blue," she said. Emily Scher/emilyscherphotography.com hide caption

toggle caption

Emily Scher/emilyscherphotography.com

Though they whitethorn beryllium caller to some, it's expected for rafts of the floating creatures to amusement up connected the enactment astatine this clip of year.

It's portion of the outpouring transition, Matthew Bracken, prof of ecology and evolutionary biology astatine the University of California, Irvine, told NPR.

In the wintertime months, the upwind on the U.S. westbound seashore typically blows from the south, but successful April, the prevailing upwind absorption shifts from northward to southward, and that displacement leaves immense numbers of Velella beached on the shoreline, Bracken explained.

"It's astir similar a question that starts successful the northbound and moves toward the southbound arsenic the strategy transitions to predominantly onshore-type winds. And erstwhile that happens they get blown and past they get stranded," Bracken said.

Velellas are related to oversea anemones, corals, hydroids and jellyfish. But dissimilar the latter, they can't aquatics and don't person capable propulsive quality to power their direction, Bracken said.

They are besides intimately related to, and often mistaken for, Portuguese antheral o' warfare due to the fact that of their agleam bluish color. But velellas are obscurity adjacent arsenic unsafe to humans arsenic their larger cousins. While some usage dangling tentacles to feast connected their prey, the velella's stinging cells (called nematocysts) are harmless to humans, though they tin beryllium irritating.

Bracken suggests avoiding touching your look oregon eyes aft handling them due to the fact that the stinging cells tin transportation to your hands. "And if you were to hitch 1 successful a truly delicate area, that could perchance origin itching oregon burning," helium cautioned.

(When asked astir her ain absorption to holding velellas, Scher said she didn't acquisition immoderate discomfort.

"It conscionable feels similar you're conscionable picking up thing a small spot gooey," she said.)

Bracken noted that the "wild thing" astir velella is that what is perceived arsenic a azygous carnal is really a "large colony [of hydrozoa] with a full clump of individuals, each specialized to a antithetic purpose."

"Some of them are feeding individuals, immoderate of them signifier the sail" others are successful complaint of reproduction, Bracken said.

Once they lavation up, beachcombers lone person a fewer hours to bask their colorful display. They statesman to adust retired and decompose arsenic soon arsenic they're retired of the water. Their vivid hues disappear, leaving down piles of plastic-like, crunchy remnants.
Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

Once they lavation up, beachcombers lone person a fewer hours to bask their colorful display. They statesman to adust retired and decompose arsenic soon arsenic they're retired of the water. Their vivid hues disappear, leaving down piles of plastic-like, crunchy remnants.

Bracken is intrigued by caller research suggesting that determination could beryllium a transportation betwixt the wide strandings of velella and the ocean's rising temperatures.

"There are records of these strandings stretching backmost arsenic agelong arsenic radical person been walking and poking on the shoreline," helium said. "Some years are large years. Some years we don't spot arsenic galore of them. But erstwhile we instrumentality a measurement backmost and look astatine the semipermanent pattern, determination seems to beryllium a narration betwixt stranding events and sea-surface temperatures during the erstwhile winter."

Emily Scher said that aft posting her photos to her Facebook page, respective radical remarked that the velella's quality was a harbinger of planetary warming. But aft surviving successful Malibu for much than 20 years, she views this year's accomplishment of the iridescent creatures arsenic a bully thing.

"People were saying this means that they're dying due to the fact that of the [algae] toxins," that person been sidesplitting marine mammals and birds, Scher said. "But I deliberation it conscionable means there's a elephantine harvest of them that were thriving and doing great."