Thousands of velella velella have been washing up on the California seashore in a rare moment of visibility for the unusual sea organisms.
Existing as a colony, the small blue animals look similar to jellyfish and are each about the size of a human hand, the New York Daily News reported. The creatures have been discovered on beaches in Washington, Oregon and now Southern California.
"I'm very excited to see how interested people have been with it," David Bader, director of education at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., told the Daily News. "It's a great example of the fact that the ocean is 95 percent unexplored. We talk about the ocean but we really know a small amount of it."
Velella velella travel on top of the water, moving across the ocean's surface with the aid of a fin that acts like a sail to catch the wind.
Distinct from other sea creatures, the small animals are "colonial organisms," Bader said.
"They don't exist as individuals. They exist as a colony," he told the Daily News. "They are unlike most other organisms we are accustomed to."
The thousands of velella velella that are washing up on shorelines will dry up to resemble "little pieces of plastic" since they can't live after leaving the ocean. While they sting their food, the blue animals are unable to damage human skin with their stings, Bader said.
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