Jellyfish invade beaches (From Western Telegraph)

Jellyfish invade beaches

Thousands of tiny, blue, windsurfing creatures swamped parts of the Pembrokeshire coast last week, being mistaken by one couple for an oil spill.

Peter Gregory and Katrina Head spotted the large, dark mass while walking on Milford Havens Conduit Beach last Wednesday evening. Peter said: At first it looked like an oil slick and we thought, whats going on here?

On closer inspection, the mass turned out to be thousands of Velella Velella, commonly known as by-the-wind-sailors.

The creatures resemble tiny, flat jellyfish with short tentacles on the underside and a transparent sail on the top. Their sails mean the creatures are blown wherever the wind takes them.

As well as Conduit Beach, the creatures have been spotted at Freshwater West and West Dale.

Peter said: We have both done a lot of diving and taken underwater pictures in places like the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and we have never seen them before.

The couple, who have lived in the area for 24 years, run the Framework Gallery beside the Milford Docks. Katrina hopes to produce artwork based on the Velella Velella for an October exhibition at the Dockside Gallery.

Local marine biologist, Francis Bunker said: Velella Velella normally follow the Gulf Stream. The fin on their backs is set diagonally so they tend to travel in a circle. They are found all over the world.

The story is that, in the Southern Hemisphere, their sails are set the opposite way round.

Its a bit unfortunate that they have been blown ashore after the days and weeks of strong offshore winds. People should watch out for the violet sea snail, a predator which follows the Velella Velella around the ocean on a raft of bubbles, waiting for a chance to eat them. It is about a centimetre-and-a-half across and has a wonderful, violet shell.

Pembrokeshire County Council has warned people not to touch the Velella Velella, saying they can sting even when dead. The council is taking advice from the Environment Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales on ways of disposing of the creatures.