By-the-wind-sailors (Velella velella) washed up on Pensacola Beach. Photo contributed by Mary P. of Tallahassee.
I love receiving photos of jellyfish from my web site visitors. This one is from Mary P. of Tallahassee. I’ll let her describe the photo she took:
“Last weekend I went to Pensacola, FL to visit the beach. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that sunny but SO many jellyfish had washed up on the shore from the storm the night before. They went down the entire length of the beach! I took a picture since I had never seen this kind of jellyfish. I was searching on google to find out what they were, and found your site. It was so great! It was very helpful and informative. I do believe these are By-The-Wind Sailor Jellies.”
These are beautiful creatures. They have little “sails” that stand up above their little raft-like bodies to catch the wind. My understanding is that their sails vary in their orientation, so that some of the creatures get blown in one direction, and the rest get blown in another. These unlucky sailors wound up beached. At least they found their way to one of nicest beaches in the state. Check out the purity of the white quartz crystal sand in the photo.
Also, note that on the right side of the photo, in the clump of brown sargassum weed, there appears to be a very small man-of-war jellyfish. The shiny purple balloon gives it away.
