Velella velella washed ashore in La Jolla on Monday evening, adding San Diego County to a spring run of sightings of the blue-and-purple creatures along the California coast. Reports of the same offshore drifters also came from Carlsbad.
Anya Stajner said the velella first showed up on Monday evening. She added that she could not yet be sure whether more would come. “We can’t yet be sure if there are more velella to come,” she said.
The creatures are known as “by-the-wind sailors” because they are carried by ever-shifting currents and winds, and spring changes in both can be especially intense and hard to predict. Velella are offshore creatures and are translucent enough to be difficult to see in the water, which is why beach-goers usually notice them only after they wash ashore. Their deep blue and purple coloring fades as they dry out and die. They are not jellyfish, though they resemble them, and their sting is considered benign to humans.
The sightings in La Jolla came after weeks of reports farther north and along the central coast. Since late March, velella have been sighted on beaches in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Luis Obispo County, as well as along the coasts of Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Weeks before the La Jolla strandings, they were first sighted in Northern California.
Stajner said the pattern may not be finished. “the last four Aprils have all yielded notable velella strandings,” she said, suggesting the region’s spring shoreline displays are a recurring feature rather than a one-off arrival. For people walking the beach in the coming days, the immediate answer is simple: the creatures are already here, and more could still follow.