A blue blob with a translucent, circular sail standing upright on a sandy beach
Closeup on Velella Velella sitting on sand after washing up on shore.
  • By-the-wind sailors are beginning to wash up onto shores in California. 
  • Beaches from Dana Point to Point Reyes National Seashore have seen the creatures on their shores.
  • The animals aren't dangerous to humans, but they can sting.

Blue jellyfish-like creatures known as by-the-wind sailors are beginning to dot the coastlines of California and are reaching as far south as Orange County. 

On Friday, Dana Wharf Whale Watching, which operates off the coast of Dana Point, California, said that they had seen "hundreds" of the sailors in the water, and displayed two on one of their whale watching boats.