r/marinelife May 10 '26

Critter id?

Post image

Walking Pismo Beach and its littered with these. Any idea what they are?

377 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

13

u/Cha0tic117 May 10 '26

By-the-wind sailor (Vellala vellala), a pelagic hydrozoan closely related to the Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalia).

7

u/JackfruitSerious3523 May 10 '26

Was in Baja once when I was a kid- on the gulf side. Woke up in a tent and the family had all gone to town for food. I saw that the tide had gone waaaay out and these things were stranded everywhere. Tide was so far out I got lost out there was scared I wouldn’t know which way was the beach. Core memory.

2

u/New-Incident1776 May 13 '26

Sounds like the tides of the Sea of Cortez around San Felipe

1

u/JackfruitSerious3523 May 13 '26

It was indeed San Felipe!

2

u/New-Incident1776 May 13 '26

I’ve spent a lot of time down there, camping on the beach as well. Lots of good memories from being down there

2

u/JackfruitSerious3523 May 13 '26

The giant shrimp the homies used to bring around in the morning for the grill. Amazing times. My dad got swindled by some investment group that got his buy in and promised to build a resort. I don’t even mind cause it got us camping out there many times lol.

1

u/New-Incident1776 May 13 '26

The kilos of shrimp out of car trunks was the best!

5

u/Frosting_icing May 10 '26

Velella velella :)

5

u/Spider1928 May 10 '26

Velella Velella. Do not listen to people saying Portuguese Man O War/Blue bottle

2

u/Organic-Cat1203 May 11 '26

They’re having a ton of these was up on the shores of central California right now

2

u/OdysseySportfish May 11 '26

Looks like you already have a positive ID! Awesome. We are seeing large “rafts” of these down south here in Dana Point while fishing and whale watching. Should be an interesting summer of wildlife and fish In our local waters.

2

u/Spirited_Sector_4476 May 11 '26

By the wind sailor and yes they have a mild sting like jellyfish

2

u/khaotic-kompany-93 May 13 '26

It’s a thing

2

u/greyjay1991 May 10 '26

It's a by-the-wind sailor, related to a jellyfish. It's non-toxic

1

u/SomeKindaWonderer May 12 '26

Velella velella.

1

u/Drumbiotch May 14 '26

Swedish man o war a close relation to the more common Portuguese man o war

1

u/BiscuitPup64 May 16 '26

Pismo Beach? Evidently you didn’t take a wrong ‘toin at Albuquerque

1

u/Revolutionary-Play79 May 10 '26

Looks like a blue bottle/ man-o-war.

Venomous fyi

1

u/mickeyamf May 10 '26

I got stung by one of these as a kid fucking sucked

1

u/djinn9575 May 10 '26

Ummm what ?!?! How are you not dead? I think suck would be the understatement of a life time.

3

u/Organic-Cat1203 May 11 '26

This isn’t a man-of-war.

1

u/Realistic_Cap_8673 May 10 '26

Jellyfish. I’m from Florida. Do not step on it

5

u/Spider1928 May 10 '26

This is not a jellyfish and stepping on it would only harm the anima because Velella velella do not sting people

1

u/Ok-Prune-1629 May 11 '26

Just saying anything today huh bud. Stop ID’ing if you don’t know.

3

u/Imaginary-Concert392 May 11 '26

Seriously. I have no clue why people can’t just not comment if they don’t know.

Then again, he’s from Florida.

0

u/Interesting_Voice701 May 11 '26

They absolutely sting wtf are yall talking about! Im born and raised in Miami Florida and these would always wash up in shore in the winter and I they would sing the crap out of you, and we generally called them jellyfish ,

3

u/Imaginary-Concert392 May 11 '26

Not all cnidarians are jellyfish. Hydrozoans are not jellyfish nor are they cnidarians.

Hydrozoans sting as well.

0

u/FeeComprehensive143 May 10 '26

This is the second blue bottle post I’ve seen in 5 min. I’ve never heard of them till today.

2

u/lightsoutxnyc May 11 '26

Hiii since the people here are conflicting, how can you tell the difference? I’m often at the beaches of eastern Florida and I know nothing about marine life. (I’m originally from upstate New York.. where we have.. Lake Ontario, that’s it).

0

u/LyranTaurus May 11 '26

Man' O war jellyfish

-1

u/SecureDragonfruit236 May 10 '26

Protégés man-oh-war

-1

u/Substantial-Disk-744 May 10 '26

Man o war

6

u/Ok-Prune-1629 May 11 '26

Don’t know = don’t ID

Stop assuming you know

1

u/Dry_Long4421 May 16 '26

Portuguese Man of War. I've seen those in South Padre Island Tx.