A fascinating creature that washed up on Wembury Beach was spotted by a rockpool safari.

The creature, known as a velella velella, is not actually one organism, rather a colony of several organisms, or zooids, similar to a Portuguese-man-o-war.

Although these creatures, closely resemble the highly poisonous Portuguese Man O'War, the velella velella, or By-the-Wind-Sailors, are not jellyfish and aren't poisonous. 

Devon Wildlife Trust, said: 'These by-the-wind-sailors (Velella velella) were spotted by DWT's Eleni during a rockpool safari at Wembury Marine Centre! 'This incredibly strange and beautiful species is actually made up of a colony of tiny individual animals - similar to the Portuguese Man O'War. They catch the wind with their distinctive sail and travel on ocean currents, using its stinging tentacles to prey on young fish and other small animals.  'They are at the mercy of the winds and so can be found washed up in their hundreds, or sometimes even thousands, after stormy winter weather.'