When It's Like a Jellyfish But It's Not: Now Found on Oregon Coast Beaches

Published 11/13/25 at 7:35 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Seaside, Oregon) - A sudden influx of gelatinous-like sea creatures has caught the attention of beachgoers and some marine experts along the north Oregon coast this week. The Common Salp (Thalia democratica), a small pelagic tunicate, has been appearing in large numbers on local shorelines. They may be common in the ocean, but they're not a common sight up top on the beaches. (All photos Seaside Aquarium)

Yet there's even a few more surprises about these little freaks from the deep.

“We have been seeing tons of these guys littering the shoreline the past few days,” said Tiffany Boothe of Seaside Aquarium.

Though typically found drifting in temperate and tropical waters near the surface, salps are not a regular sight on land. These half-inch, transparent animals are difficult to spot unless you look closely for their distinctive blue or purple digestive system.

Salps feed on plankton, propelling themselves through the water via jet propulsion. Their movement is largely dictated by ocean currents, which sometimes push them toward shore. They barely can control where they go.

“Sometimes, when following a closer inshore current, strong westerly winds can drive them into the surf where they get beat up and eventually get stranded on the beach,” Boothe said.

Occasionally, the aquarium has them in tanks, as seen above.

Here's one surprise: Despite their jellyfish-like appearance, salps are not jellyfish at all.

“Salps are amazing animals, though in appearance they resemble jellyfish, they are more closely related to fish,” Boothe explained. “They can form large aggregations of millions of individuals linking together in a chain which can measure up to one meter.”

Like many forms of salps on the Oregon coast, they band together to create enormous colonies.

To understand salps, it helps to understand tunicates. Though adult tunicates lack a backbone, their larvae possess a tail, dorsal nerve cord, and a notochord - placing them in the same phylum as vertebrates.

That’s right: humans share distant ancestry with these peculiar plankton-eaters. Strange relatives indeed.

Boothe said eeating is accomplished by pumping plankton-laden water through the body where a mucous net is used to extract food particles.

Boothe also said they play an integral role in the ecosystem.

They're being seen on north coast beaches around Seaside to Manzanita, and sometimes Newport, Bandon or Port Orford. It all depends on tides and currents.

All these storms of late along the Oregon coast and Washington coast have created a lot of beachcombing pleasures. Then runs of pleasant weather allow the cool stuff to be found in greater numbers.

See Trippy Stuff to Find on Oregon Coast Beaches in Winter

A small sampling of fun finds includes what is called “whale burps” - the nickname for rock-hard bundles of sea grass that have been compressed together. These often look rather squarish, not unlike hay bundles created on a farm. But it's a consequence of the ocean squishing all that stuff into one, hardened mass.

Then there are also “ocean burps,” a very loose term for bundles of sundry objects that get stuck together and tossed up by the tide. They often yield still-living specimens like live eggs from various species, or even glass floats from Japan. More....Trippy Stuff to Find on Oregon Coast Beaches in Winter

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