by-the-wind-sailors

By-the-wind-sailors are wind-blown relatives of hydroids and sea jellies. They may also be known by the common names Sallee-man or Admirals' Hats but it is the delightfully sounding Latin name Velella velella that I love. Try saying it slowly - Velella velella.

Late in November my wife, Jane, and students from Woodleigh School found many By-the-wind-sailors washed ashore at Pt Leo, a surf beach on Victoria's coast. This find signalled the arrival of the first of a flotilla of drifting oceanic life that reach our shores each summer.

By-the-wind-sailors are regarded as being plankton but By-the-wind-sailors do more than aimlessly drift. They float at the ocean's surface and are propelled vast distances by the winds that they catch with an S-shaped sail. You can see this sail in the photograph below.

What I find really amazing is the fact that some By-the-wind-sailors have left-handed sails while others have right-handed sails. This means that some sail to the left, others to the right. Very little is known about the distribution of these left and right-handed By-the-wind-sailors on Australian shores.

By-the-wind-sailors
wash ashore in summer,
often in large numbers
(click thumbnail for full image)

Living Bluebottles trail long tentacles that can cause painful stings to humans, even after the Bluebottle washes ashore
(click thumbnail for full image)

What is not shown in the photograph are the small blue feeding tentacles that hang below living By-the-wind-sailors. These tentacles have stinging cells called nematocysts. Thankfully these nematocysts don't affect humans.

This is not the case for the closely related Bluebottle Physalia physalis (also commonly known as Portuguese-man-o'-war). This is another planktonic ocean sailor that is commonly washed ashore in late summer, especially on more open beaches.

As I am interested in when and where By-the-wind-sailors and Bluebottles wash ashore, please email details of any finds to harry@southernshores.auz.info.