Comb jellies (or ctenophores) are not jellyfish - they do not sting - but like jellyfish, they are gelatinous and fragile. Comb jellies are plankters (pelagic organisms, free-floating and carried by waves and currents), and like most plankters they often occur in the ocean in swarms. Described as "voracious predators", comb jellies feed on small marine organisms, particularly fish eggs and larvae.
Comb jellies commonly wash ashore on Sable Island, sometimes a few here and there, sometimes thousands... or more. Shown here is an accumulation of comb jellies on the south beach, washed ashore during one morning in March, 1990. Along most of the south beach, there was an average of 30/meter, thus roughly a million comb jellies washed ashore with one tide.