Armadas of alien-like sea creatures have been washing up on Australian beaches thanks to the warm weather but experts warn people should look but not touch.

Jellyfish expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin said bluebottles had been washing up on beaches across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania in “gobsmacking numbers” over the last few months thanks to the warmer weather.

“They’re having a really fun time this year and they’re definitely terrorising us this year,” Gershwin said. “They’re really strange alien creatures. There’s no two ways about it.

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“It doesn’t have any equal to people, or animals, or corals, or things we understand intuitively. It’s just their own brand of weirdness in such a cool way.”

A population of bluebottles on the move is known as an “armada” and the species is evolutionarily descended from jellyfish in the same way humans are related to monkeys or apes. They are also the closest known relative of the Portuguese man o’ war and distantly to Porpita porpita, a marine organism with a circular float but no sail.

Read more: The Guardian