Unusual blue creatures with stinging tentacles have washed up on St Bees beach in Cumbria, prompting a warning from wildlife officials not to touch them.
The organisms, known as Velella velella or by-the-wind-sailors, are oval-shaped colonial hydroids that can grow up to 10cm long. They travel by using sail fins to drift on wind and ocean currents.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust shared images of the creatures and explained that each sailor is a colony of polyps working as a single entity, with different polyps handling feeding, reproduction and defence. Despite their jellyfish-like appearance, they are not true jellyfish.
The trust noted the creatures bear a resemblance to the Portuguese Man O'War, a colonial hydrozoan known for its powerful sting. By-the-wind-sailors are described as much smaller and generally harmless to humans, though the trust still recommends people do not touch them.
The creatures are typically spotted between September and March and feed on small fish. Images from the beach show a translucent sail fin rising diagonally across a blue, slimy body, with deep blue tentacles spread across the sand.
Thousands of the same species also washed up along southern California beaches in April.
