A wierd sea creature is washing up on beaches along the west coast of Vancouver Island.
They are called "velella". The small jelly-fish-like critters start life on the ocean bottom, but spend their adult lives floating on the ocean surface.
Dr. Louise Page of UVic's Department of Biology says they are not jelly fish, but are fascinating little creatures very distantly related to the Portuguese man o' war -- but without the nasty attribute of being poisonous stingers:
"They do have stinging cells, because they feed on small organizations like copepods and fish larvae. And so they use those stinging cells to capture that tiny prey. But these stinging cells in velella are not, they can't penetrate through our skin. So they're not dangerous to humans in any way."
Velellas, also known as "by-the-wind-sailors, float around on the ocean surface, and move around by catching the wind with a sail-like appendage. However they can't direct themelves, and are carried wherever the wind blows, which means they are prone to mass-strandings.
Dr. Page says she saw some washed up at Cattle Point 2 weeks ago, something she hasn't seen in 30 years of visiting that site.
Residents from Victoria to Tofino and beyond are reporting the creatures washing ashore. There were similar strandings in 2015.