Thousands of mysterious "jelly-like" creatures washed up on the shores of Huntington Beach in Southern California. The strange creatures baffled residents and scientists alike. Some speculated them to be sea cucumber-like creatures, known as salps, that were washed up due to stormy weather. Screen capture/KTLA/AOL

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Thousands of mysterious "jelly-like" creatures washed up on a California beach, baffling local residents.

Resident Don Coursey told CBS Los Angeles he had never seen anything like the strange creatures in his 30 years living on Huntington beach.


"It feels like Jello," Coursey told KTLA. "If you were a little kid, you'd love to have something like this so you can drop down your sister's shirt."

Cal State Long Beach marine biologist Bruno Pernet said the mysterious creatures likely washed ashore following stormy weather in the area last weekend.

UC Irvine associate professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Matt Bracken told the OC Register the invertebrates were likely "pelagic tunicates" also known as salps.

"These marine invertebrates look sort of like jellyfish, but they are actually more closely related to vertebrates [e.g., humans] than to other invertebrates," he said. "They occasionally bloom off the California coast."

Huntington Marine Safety Lt. Claude Panis, who has worked as a lifeguard at the beach for nearly four decades, said other strange occurrences including an influx of stingrays had begun to take place at the beach as a potential result of El Nino.

"There's all kinds of weird things happening," he said. "It's just strange."