Local beaches are reporting high numbers of jellyfish-like creatures know as ‘sea rafts’. The images of vast swarms of electric-blue sails covering the ocean’s surface and littering the sand are indeed spectacular, but people might well wonder what exactly these strange-looking beings actually are. And this of course leads to the next question – should we be afraid of them?
Velella velella (to give them their scientific name) are often assumed to be a type of jellyfish but, while biology does lump them in with jellyfish, sea anenomes, and corals in a group known as Cnidaria, Velellas are not all that closely related to the common jellyfish.
The beaches of the Vega Baja have been dyed blue as the large number of ‘sea rafts’ that have appeared on the coasts of Orihuela, Torrevieja, Guardamar del Segura. The creature is very common in the Mediterranean and although it is related to the dreaded jellyfish, it is totally harmless, since its tiny tentacles cannot penetrate human skin. They are unable to move on their own and so they float in the water and are transported thanks to a structure like a sail, which gives them their name. These animals can get stranded alive, in which case a dark blue mass will be observed, or already dead, leaving a whitish structure.
The velella are one of the typical foods of the loggerhead turtles that, will no doubt be having a feast before they vanish. But the sailboats also have other predators that are stranding on the beaches of the region in these days.
However, bathers and paddlers beware as the stinging and luminescent jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca have also appeared, and if they come into contact with your skin will sting and leave you needing medical assistance.