Jellyfish Advisory Issued

Hammonassest Beach State Park, the state's largest shoreline park, has issued a jellyfish advisory on Twitter.

"Jellyfish advisory!! Please be careful while on the beach," the message said Wednesday morning.

Gina D'Agostino said via Twitter that the jellyfish ruined what otherwise could have been a good day at the beach Tuesday.

"[It was] bad..no one was in the water. Dead jelly fish all over the beach. Wasted $9 just for parking and only stayed for an hour," she said via Twitter.

Hammonasset Wednesday provided recommendations for alternate activities for those visiting the park: "Despite the Jellyfish, it's a great day for a canoe ride (12:30) or to explore a mystery of nature at the Nature Center (1-2:30)"

Notices posted at Madison town beaches

Hammonasset is not alone. At the Madison town beaches, the jellyfish came in Tuesday as well.

Notices have been posted at the guard gates letting people know that it's jellyfish season again and that they have been sighted on the beaches, said Madison Beach & Recreation Director Scot Erskine.

"Warm weather = warm water = jellyfish time," Erskine said in an email response to a question about the jellyfish.

Neck Road beaches in Madison hit Tuesday, but better by Wednesday

A large influx of jellyfish were observed on some beaches along Neck Road Tuesday, although some of those beaches had only a few on Wednesday morning.

At a beach off of Taylor Avenue Wednesday morning, only three jellyfish could be seen, including one floating belly up, but beach-goers were still wary about getting into the water, opting to walk along the shore with shoes on or do math homework instead.

At a beach near Kelsey and Overshores Tuesday, "they were everywhere," Linda Milisits Paine told Patch on Facebook. By mid-day Wednesday there were "just a few jellyfish (and a few people) today and 1 brave swimmer," she said.

The jellyfish on the Neck Road beaches appeared to be Lion's Mane, or Cyanea capillata.

Lion's Mane stingers "mildly toxic"

"They have stinging cells (nematocysts) that are mildly toxic. Cyanea are generally considered moderate stingers. Symptoms are similar to those of the moon jelly; pain is relatively mild and often described as burning rather than stinging," according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Additional information about the different kinds of jellyfish and other gelatinous plankton in Long Island Sound is provided in the PDF next to this article.

Here are some tips from the Mayo Clinic on treating jellyfish stings.

Boaters venturing out into Long Island Sound should not only always wear a life vest, but may also want to consider wearing a wetsuit this time of year, according to the Jellyfishfacts.net website. "The safest and the most effective method is to wear a wetsuit. When the tentacles of the jellyfish touch the surface of the wetsuit, they do not sense the presence of any chemicals and pass without stinging."

And here are some additional