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Thousands of strange sea creatures wash up on area beaches

Posted at 7:58 PM, Apr 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-29 22:32:30-04

Did you see the strange creatures washing up on some area beaches this weekend? At first glance, they resemble the Portuguese Man O’ War, but that’s not what they are.

Small, blue, and rubbery—these organisms are called “By-The-Wind-Sailors”. Their name gives it away. They act like little sailboats on the ocean that are driven strictly by the wind.

They washed up on our beaches because of the strong southerly wind over the weekend. When they first wash ashore, they have a blue coloring, but eventually the sun bleaches them to clear or white.

Unlike the Portuguese Man O’ War, By-The-Wind-Sailors won’t sting you. Their only downside is their cluttering the beaches as thousands of them wash ashore. “These organisms have been seen on our beaches before, but the quantity of them this time was rather exceptional”, according to Buzz Botts at the Padre Island National Seashore.

He also said that predicting if we’ll see them again is pretty difficult. They’re just at the mercy of Mother Nature.