Mysterious creatures cover American beaches by the millions

Newspaper The Guardian reports that "blankets" of alien-like blue creatures have covered the beaches of many American states — from Oregon to California. These are sailboats (Velella Velella) — tiny colonies of organisms with sombrero-like "sails" in the upper part and dangling tentacles.

As noted in the publication, millions of these creatures were discovered on the west coast of the United States this spring. Which made the beachgoers very happy, who happily shared footage with them on social media. Some have already nicknamed this "invasion of sailboats" the "blue wave", although in fact it happens every spring, although not every time on a similar scale.

Despite the fact that these creatures look like a single organism, the sailboat is a colony of organisms belonging to the hydroid class. They use their "sail" to navigate with the help of the wind, and spend most of their lives in the open ocean in search of food (zooplankton and fish fry), which they catch and sting with tentacles. At the same time, they are harmless to humans.

It is assumed that they got their blue color in the process of evolution for camouflage — to look like waves in the ocean. It can also protect them from UV rays.

Sailboats live for several months and travel along the Pacific Current, moving from California to Central America, and then to Hawaii and Japan, to return later.

Researchers admit that the increasing number of these creatures on the coasts may be due to climate change.