Visitors flocking to the shoreline near San Francisco Bay are seeing thousands, maybe even millions of dead creatures that look a lot like jellyfish.
Visitors flocking to the shoreline near San Francisco Bay are seeing thousands, maybe millions of dead creatures that look a lot like jellyfish. The species is blue or purplish in color.
Although the organisms bear a resemblance to jellyfish, they’re actually called Velella velella. Typically the hydroid polyps are discovered floating on the surface of the high seas of the Pacific Ocean.
They don’t touch or even come close to the ocean bottom after the larval stage. Wind is responsible for carrying them to the shores where they dry out and die. Experts believe that is what has happened in San Francisco.
In April, May and early June the Velella velella usually bloom and float to shore along the Northern continent, however what’s going on in the bay area is a little bit of a mystery as it’s happening later than what’s considered normal.
No one is quite sure why the blooming period is out of whack.
