'These animals are fields of floating mouths': Apparently, There's An Animal That Is Waterproof, Floats, Has A Giant Mouth And Is Taking Over The Ocean

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
May 23, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

We, here at Animal Comedy, love animals. Really love them. We spend our days scouring the internet in search of the funniest, coolest, most interesting animals - to be able to show they to you guys. And every time we find something, we think... that's it, there is no more to discover, there is no way that there are more animals that we are unaware of. And every time, we are proven wrong. Every time, our reactions are the same as the ones of the people online - shock and awe.

Like that we twitter discovered the real but mildly terrifying gerenuk, and we were reacting right alongside them. Or that time they found that there is an animal whose mouth is longer than a whole human. Or that time they confused one of the most lethal small cats ever for a house kitten, and we were just as ready to adopt one as they were. Or today… when we discovered that apparently, there is an animal that is waterproof, floats, looks like plastic, has a giant mouth and is definitely taking over the ocean. 

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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm Follow Wanna hear a story about an ocean animal that is WATERPROOF, sails, and why I tried to accidentally recycle a bunch of them???? [a thread 10:55 PM - May 17, 2024 1.7M Views ]... 80 12.4K 23K ☐ 7.3K 1
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    @RebeccaRHelm
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    @RebeccaRHelm
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm Ok, so I'm on this beach a long while ago in California. I'm walking looking for animals. Along the way, I'm picking up plastic. So I'm picking up all these random plastic shards and eventually I'm like ????? [*] davems bit.ly/3exm95Q] 10:56 PM. May 17, 2024 100.6K Views
    via @RebeccaRHelm, davems
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm What is this stuff? So I look closer and the plastic has rings. All the shards are shaped the same even though their different sizes. Then I realize: this is not plastic. These are skeletons... susanwiser bit.ly/2UX70ns ...
    via @RebeccaRHelm, susanwiser
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm These clear plastic-like things are the leftovers of animals called Velella. Here I think I'm picking up plastic but it turns out it's all these old dead animals (!!!) I've NEVER EVER felt an animal that's like plastic before. So then... emilyd47 bit.ly/2UZjb2Z]
    via @RebeccaRHelm, emilyd47
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm ... I started looking for the live ones. I wanna see one of these things. & y'all -I see NONE in California. So a few years ago I'm in France. I'm getting off the plane and going to a marine lab and I look over & the whole beach is BRIGHT BLUE... [] emily_r inaturalist.org/observations/8......]
    via @RebeccaRHelm, emily_r
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm ...I'm running to the beach and it's Velella! So now I'm freaking out ... because you can't plan to see these things. They happen to you. You get lucky. I'm picking them up, trying to get them back into water so I can really see them... Video by: bit.ly/2CEDM4Q 0:03
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm It's so weird. The sail is covered IN BLUE FLESH that's SUPER thin. Thinner than eyelids. You can basically see all the way through it, even the little veins and canals and stuff. So then I flip one over... 13 14 @RebeccaRHelm
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm ... And underneath is A MESS. What is all of this???? So I start looking closer and in the middle, there's this one HUGE mouth. ok ok I'm figuring it out this is how they eat (I did *not* have it figured out)... This is the big mout This is the big mout
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm This mouth is where all the food goes when one of these blue tentacles catches something. BUT THEN I NOTICED ALL THE OTHER THINGS... Random white bits??? ... Blue tentacles @RebeccaRHelm
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm Like little white straws all around the big mouth, and they're covered in these brown bubbles? And THE STRAWS ARE EATING, TOO!... Video by: bit.ly/2CEDM4Q ... 0:02
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm These animals are fields of floating mouths. And they can be so numerous they completely coat the ocean's surface (which is what's happening in parts of California right now)... by Scott Horton ...
    via @RebeccaRHelm, Scott Horton
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm These animals may be having a MAJOR impact on ocean ecosystems. Top fish predator literally floating around eating fish eggs. But we don't know how to find them. They happen to you, remember? We're working to change this: The Zooniverse @the_zooniverse. May 14 Yo-ho-ho! We are excited to announce the launch of The Living Sailors! R Living Sailors travel the world's oceans. These beautiful and strange jellies float at the surface and harness the wind with a fleshy
    via @RebeccaRHelm, @the_zooniverse
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    The Zooniverse @the_zooniverse Yo-ho-ho! We are excited to announce the launch of The Living Sailors! Living Sailors travel the world's oceans. These beautiful and strange jellies float at the surface and harness the wind with a fleshy sail that points either left or right. zooniverse.org/projects/rebec...
    via @the_zooniverse
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    High Seas Science @RebeccaRHelm We just hit the 50% mark, which means you amazing people have now documented over HALF our data on these living sailors. This is INSANE. We could not be more grateful for your incredible effort to track down these spaghetti-mouthed blue lovable monsters... 11:10 PM. May 17, 2024 57.3K Views
    via @RebeccaRHelm
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    :3 @daughterdyke saw a bunch of these lil guys at Seal Cove Beach (just south of sanfran) very weird but cool guys!!
    via @daughterdyke
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    Shabnam Nadiya @nadiya_shabnam Follow Favoritest marine creature! First saw them in central CA. But only stranded, dead ones. 2 wks ago, for the first time, saw 'em meandering in the waters at Asilomar. Gorgeous blue, leavened by striated white, the gracefulness of navigating at the wind's will--took my breath away!
    via @nadiya_shabnam
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    Cheezburger Image 9925234432
    via @nadiya_shabnam
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    Nick Duguid (he/him) @Tumerboy Follow I grew up in coastal CA and every year we'd get a beach covered in these guys. I think people called them "By The Wind Sailors". I don't think I'd ever seen the dried out skeleton before though. They always got washed back out or something by then. Neat! . 2:57 PM May 18, 2024 4,203 Views
    via @Tumerboy
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    Nathan Shaner @NathanShaner Saw this unfortunate one a few weeks ago ...
    via @NathanShaner
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    Andy Jung @AndyJungTech First time I saw these I thought they onions, like I thought a cargo ship had spilled a bunch of onions and they washed up on Huntington Beach 5:42 AM May 18, 2024 7,047 Views
    via @AndyJungTech
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    ClaireFifi #European #Irish @Clairefifi "By the wind sailor" Vellela vellela. I came across these amazing creatures on the west coast of Ireland when I was a child. They were so ethereal and other-worldly. I hardly ever see them these days, only after a huge storm on the Atlantic. 1:55 AM - May 18, 2024 - 8,557 Views
    via @Clairefifi

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