STRONG winds and waves have washed in some unusual creatures to Dorset's Jurassic Coast from tropical waters.

Marine conservationists have been excited to discover exotic jellyfish-like animals and bizarre barnacles.

By-the-wind sailors, Velella velella, which resemble tiny jellyfish, are actually a colony of filter feeders coloured bright blue with an iridescent-tipped sail.

They feed on any small marine animals and can trap with stinging tentacles as they drift along.

Usually found in tropical and semi-tropical waters, lengthy south-westerly winds can send them north and deposit them on our south-west-facing beaches.

Another unusual visitor is the Common Goose Barnacle, Lepas anatifera, which are also being washed up more regularly than before on the beach at Kimmeridge Bay.

These ocean drifters attach themselves by a flexible stalk to floating objects such as wood, boats and litter and travel the world's oceans feeding on plankton, which they catch with their feathery feet.

But if winds and currents take them inshore they are often washed up on beaches and die.

However, a goose barnacle has been taken captive and is thriving in conditions created specially for it at the Fine Foundation Marine Centre, Kimmeridge Bay.

Dorset Wildlife Trust wardens, who found it on the beach in September, have named it Barney and it has survived more than two months, feeding well and growing via several moults on its feathery feet.

"We are not sure whether Barney is really male or female at the moment, as goose barnacles are herm-aphrodite," said Emma Rance, marine assistant at DWT's Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve.

"They can change sex in response to stressful and limiting conditions. Barney feeds daily on plankton and is able to move its neck around to find the best food source while waving its feet through the water sieving up dinner."

Barney can be visited at the Marine Centre, Kimmeridge Bay.