‘Little sails’-like jellyfish invade Puerto Pollensa

Covering beaches around Mallorca

The beach in Puerto Pollensa.
The best images of Puerto Soller and Andratx beaches bathed in "blue sails"

The beach in Puerto Pollensa. | Iván Simón

Humphrey CarterPalma04/04/2025 14:58
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After the arrival of thousands of barquetes de Sant Pere, as they are known in Mallorcan - Saint Peter’s sailboats or to be more precise ‘velella velella’, a jellyfish-like hydrozoa species - was detected in the Puerto Soller and the Port d’Andratx, the Velella Vella have now painted the beach of Puerto Pollensa blue.

At dawn, thousands of specimens of this hydrozoan has been washed up and, although it is a common phenomenon at this time of year, their large numbers can cause problems, as if they are not removed quickly from the beaches they rot causing a strong smell and attract insects.

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The barquetes de Sant Pere have filaments with stinging cells, the same type as jellyfish. However, they are considered harmless to humans, as they are not hard enough to pierce the skin.

The native name of barquetes de Sant Pere (sailors of Saint Peter) is due to the fact that each individual is a floating colony topped by a sail-shaped membrane, which allows these animals to navigate, not only carried by the currents or the waves but also pushed by the breeze.

Its scientific name, from the genus Velella, also refers to the ‘sail’ that tops the part of the animal that protrudes from the water. Because they form shoals that can be very large, when they are washed ashore they accumulate, dyeing the coastline blue.

Photo gallery

The best images of Puerto Soller and Andratx beaches bathed in "blue sails"

On Saturday morning, residents and tourists of Puerto Soller were surprised by this impressive blue scene. The popular Platja d'Es Repic woke up to hundreds of Velella specimens (a jellyfish-like hydrozoa species known in English, among other names, as 'little sail'), on the sand, also known as "balandró" or "barquetes de Sant Pere."

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