'Swimming Through Gummy Bears:' Salps Hits the Shore

A 17-year-old from Malvern, PA, emerged from the ocean at 12th Street on Monday morning and gave a scouting report to her friends on the beach.

"It's like swimming through Gummy Bears," Sally McDermott said.

Bathers at many beaches in Ocean City on Monday encountered pockets of small jelly-like creatures called salps. The animals are not jellyfish and have no sting or harmful effect—other than a slimy texture.

The horned salps were likely blown from the Gulf Stream by the prevailing ocean breezes that have kept the ocean relatively warm for June. They make guest appearances on the Jersey Shore every few summers when the conditions are right—but it's more common for them to arrive in August than in June.

Though at first glance the animals look like dime-sized blobs, they are named for a horn-shaped protrusion on their body.

On a swim from 14th Street to Fifth Street on Monday morning, pockets of the salps were thick from 11th to 14th streets but thinned out heading north on the island.

The marine forecast calls for east winds to continue on Tuesday, and more salps will likely be pushed in from out at sea. If the wind turns offshore (out of the west) on Wednesday, as predicted, the salp population could return to the deep and clear the surf.