Blue Sail (Velella) Jellyfish

Observation: Velella, the By-the-Wind Sailor. Blue Sail Jellyfish washed up on our outside beach and was discovered by Rachel Payton. Never seen here before. Very cool find. It is preserved in a jar now but lost its blue color. What happened to the currents that would bring this critter to our beach? Can still see the sail.

University of Victoria Consult: There have been a lot of observations of my favorite animal Velella velella -- By-the-wind-sailor through the Northeast Pacific in unusual occurrences and abundances over the last year or so since the formation of "The Blob". This has been noted in contributions to DFO's State of the Oceans 2014 report, during the annual NOAA/NMFS pelagic fish trawl survey this past summer, by myself on beaches along the West Coast of Vancouver Island, and in news reports, CBC Yes, this species is being seen further north than usual, and in unusual abundances and is related to the unusual climate and oceanographic variability that we've been observing. They are a conspicuous indicator of change. Tom Okey

Very cool - definitely Velella velella - perhaps you could post the image and sighting onto jellywatch.org Here's a nice video on Velella YouTube. George Matsumoto

Thanks a bunch for the report to jellywatch.org. That is great to fill out the northern end of the range in 2015. We found one sighting from 2014 somewhat close by: Jellywatch Steve Haddock

Media: See also April article in National Geographic