- April 19, 2024
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Anyone who has been to the beach within the past week may have noticed, or stepped on, what looks like small, thin pieces of fiberglass.
It's not, according to the Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue. These are actually mollusks that are considered a sea snail or sea slug.
The Volusia County Beach Safety was contacted several times by people who saw the creatures, commonly known as sea butterflies, thinking the marine organisms were fiberglass. According to the Volusia County Beach Safety, the mollusks are harmless and non-toxic. However, they are very sharp and will pierce skin like a splinter.
The Volusia County Beach Safety noted several punctures from impact will cause reddish bumps but that this is not an allergic reaction. The only defense mechanism for sea butterflies is their shape, according to Volusia County Beach Safety.
The sea butterflies are pteropods, scientifically known as creseis acicula, that are usually found in warmer waters, such as the Caribbean. Sea butterflies get their name from their long cylindrical needle-shaped silica bodies that are whitish-transparent and are propelled by their fluttering tongue, resembling a butterfly.
Ocean Rescue Public Information Officer Tamra Marris said the creatures can be carried to Florida's shore by the current, usually when there is a tropical storm or hurricane.
"When we get an onshore wind, of any time for a few days or more, we get a few things—jellyfish, man o' wars," Marris said. "Pretty much everything is at the mercy of the current."
