Spindrift

A Spindrift is an odd-looking creature from Super Mario 64. Spindrifts have a spinning flower on their heads which allows them to hover around. They also have a yellow cone at the bottom of their heads. A green leaf-like cape tops the first half of the yellow cone. A Spindrift's head is just a white sphere with two eyes and a mouth shaped like a reverted triangle, making the face look like it is surprised at something. In the DS remake their heads now have a peach-yellow color, their flowers are somewhat bigger, their mouths and eyes are smaller and their mouths are now colored black instead of red.

Super Mario 3D Land
In Super Mario 3D Land, they appear in.

New Super Mario Bros.U
In New Super Mario Bros.U, they appear in Layer Cake-Desert-2 and Merinque Clouds-Castle.

If Mario jumps on the creature, the Spindrift will release three coins, and Mario will Spin Jump in the air. This technique could be used to get to other areas in new ways. Spindrifts appear in both snow worlds Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land. Spindrifts were supposed to appear in New Super Mario Bros., but were taken out of the final version. They were replaced by the blue-white boards allowing Mario to perform a Spin Jump.

Trivia

 * When jumping on a Spindrift, Mario is flung into the air and spins around, which also happens when Mario jumps on a Spring Topman.