San Diego

Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) One of the most abundant intertidal animals on the Pacific coast — it reproduces by cloning itself, carpeting rocks with genetically identical colonies that wage slow-motion border wars against neighboring clones. Extremely common year-round in San Diego tidepools, found from Alaska to Baja California on rocky shorelines exposed at low tide. Wikipedia | iNaturalist

📍 San Diego By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella) Not a jellyfish but a colonial hydrozoan, each Velella is a raft of specialized polyps topped by a chitinous sail that catches the wind. Mass strandings are common along San Diego beaches in spring and summer when persistent onshore winds push entire flotillas ashore. Wikipedia | iNaturalist