Rare, Blue Jellyfish-Like Creatures Wash Ashore in NJ, Puzzling Beachgoers

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | October 4, 2018 10:39am ET

Weird, brilliant blue creatures with feather-like tentacles are washing ashore on the beaches of New Jersey, surprising beachgoers who aren't used to seeing turquoise blobs dotting the shore, according to news reports.

These jellyfish-like critters are commonly known as blue buttons (Porpita porpita), but they aren't native to the Garden State. Instead, it appears that Hurricane Florence carried the tropical animals out of the Gulf Stream, a powerful current in the Atlantic Ocean, and pushed them northward up the East Coast.

"It's not something I've ever seen before, and I've been walking down that beach since I was 10 years old. I'm 55 now," Holly Horner, a professional wildlife photographer from Egg Harbor, New Jersey, told the Asbury Park Press, after spotting blue buttons on a beach in Brigantine last week. [In Photos: Spooky Deep-Sea Creatures]

Although they look like jellyfish, blue buttons are another type of creature (or rather, set of creatures) altogether. They fall into the scientific class Hydrozoa, whose members are each made up of colonies of hydroids — tiny predators that are related to jellyfish. The most famous hydrozoan is probably the Portuguese man o' War (Physalia physalis), which can deliver a venomous sting so powerful that it can kill fish and even injure humans, according to National Geographic.

Continued