OREGON COAST, Ore. -- For visitors to the Oregon Coast, it's often a mystery: a purple goo on the beach that seems to stretch on forever. It appears during the spring. But not every spring.
That goo is actually millions of tiny jellyfish-looking sea creatures called Velella velella, also known as by-the-wind sailors.
"They kind of look like little spinning tops littering the beaches," explained University of Washington marine biology professor Julia Parrish, who has been studying the creatures for years.
Ocean and wind conditions have to come together just right to blow these creatures onto shore, but Parrish wondered why in recent years we've seen so many of them wash ashore from Washington all the way down into California.
"That's a lot of real estate," Parrish said. "And that is a gazillion jellyfish."
Parrish discovered the big stranding happened the same years the marine heat wave occurred, also known as the warm blob. It was an area of unusually warm water that also stretched from Washington down to California.
"For the ocean, it was downright hot," said Parrish.
It's the same blob scientists now believe caused the mass die off of seabirds. The birds died due to starvation. The fish the birds needed to eat were not there.
Interestingly enough, Velella's favorite food is fish eggs and baby fish.
"So, if there are more Velella, they're scarfing down the early stages of fish that are important to the ecosystem," said Parrish.
There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to impacts of warmer oceans. But, it appears some creatures, like Velella, are emerging the winners.
"Everywhere in the northern hemisphere this jellyfish occurs and when it's warmer we see more of them," explained Parrish. "So, we expect if the ocean warms, we're going to see more of these guys everywhere."
Which means other sea creatures will come out the losers. And that's something that is not a mystery.
"Velella is the signal, it's the sentinel telling us there's been a shift," said Parrish. "So, maybe we should spend a little more time out there figuring out what's going on."