© Mikeyworld@Ocean ShoresMillions of jellyfish-like creatures wash ashore on the coast.
For more than a month now, the
Velella Velella have been washing up by the millions on West Coast Beaches, including Ocean Shores.
"It looks pretty messy," said Tim O'Cain who was visiting with his grandkids from Bothell. "Really gooey. And actually for a distance, I thought they looked like a muscle, until you got up close to them."
After the winter, as sea surface temperatures rise, the creatures migrate closer to the shore in droves.
"They have a sail fin that has a slight bend to it and that helps them curve again from the beach and stay off the beaches," said Steve Green with the
Coastal Interpretive Center.But it's when the wind starts to blow that sets the creatures off course.
"These guys have no chance once they start spinning around in circles," Green said.
That's when they're pushed on the shore, and become strange sight for all to see.
"They were blue, they were really goopy and mushy and they were weird to step on," said Brooke Brandweide from Seattle.
Velella Velella aren't poisonous, and they won't sting. You can pick them up with no worries.
"These are no threat to humans," Green said. "Unless you're a microscopic plantain, you have nothing to worry about."
The last time this happened was about six years ago and Green says they could keep floating ashore through the summer months.
