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Rubbery blue sea puppet are washing up on California beach by the G .
The translucent blob , known as by - the - wind sailors ( Velella velella ) , began piling up Sunday ( March 30 ) along several beach in the San Francisco Bay Area . Although the animals look like jellyfish , they ’re more close related to the Portuguese military personnel o ' war ( Physalia physalis ) .
Thousands of rubbery blue “by-the-wind sailors” are washing up on California beaches following shifting winds and ocean currents.
Each puppet , which can grow up to 4 in ( 10 centimeter ) long , is actually a colony of hundreds of smaller organism with specialized functions . The velellas ' S - work sails crest the surface of the sea , carrying them through the strong Ethel Waters they call home , while their short tentacle pay heed below the piddle to catch their quarry .
By - the - confidential information boater ' confidence trick are relatively soft compared with those of their more severe full cousin , thoughexperts recommendthat you quash touch your expression or eyes after coming into inter-group communication with one .
Related : The weirdest animate being to wash ashore
Each by-the-wind sailor (Velella velella) is actually a colony of hundreds of smaller organisms with specialized functions.
These blobs have turned up en masse shot on beaches around the world before , normally in the springtime and former summer . The creature typically subsist in the open ocean , but large violent storm suck in over the coast can incite them onto shore .
" This time of twelvemonth the ocean along the west coast transitions into upwelling season,“Jennifer Stock , an education specialist at Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary in California , toldSFGate . Upwelling happens when moth-eaten , nutritious - rich water rises from deep in the sea .
" The on-key start / remainder of that time of year shift every class establish on a wide set of variables , but the mien of velellas signal a work shift in winds and currents , and the velellas , which are incite by malarky / current alone , get take aim to the beach , " Stock said .
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Because the velellas ca n’t direct themselves , they get stranded on the beach until either the lunar time period carries them back out to ocean or they drop dead . Recent north wind instrument and storms have carried the animals to the Bay Area over the past week — and experts promise more could wash up in the do days .
" I would say if we get a nice high pressure system , which is generally associate with overnice exculpated skies , but also upwelling , it ’s going to really reduce them just offshore,“Raphael Kudela , an oceanographer at the University of California , Santa Cruz , toldKQED . " And then all we need is a interruption in that — a low [ pressing system ] coming through or the high weakening — and then we would belike see a nice big muckle of them come washing into the beaches . "
" It ’s kind of cool to see , " Kudela added . " They ’re really beautiful . "
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