It occurs at the surface of warm and warm-temperate seas worldwide; on the Pacific coast of North America it extends from Mexico north to Washington, and it has also been recorded around New Zealand and in the tropical Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
In NAKTASHIF worlds:Marine and coastal habitats
Approved version OWNER-REVIEW-20261108T211612736 · last approved 9 November 2026
Its known predators are few and include nudibranchs of the genus Glaucus, snails of the genus Janthina, the mollusc Fiona pinnata and the fish Mola mola.
These animals float at the surface and are driven ashore by winds, mostly in spring; 20 years of citizen-science data (2000-2019) for the coast from Washington to northern California show mass strandings in 14 years, with especially large events in 2003-2006 and 2014-2019, which researchers link to warmer winters; a university press release states that in the later years carcasses covered more than 1,000 km of continuous coastline within two weeks.
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