Jellyfish With Harsh, Mauve Stingers Invade Jersey Shore

JERSEY SHORE — A new menace could populate the Jersey Shore on Labor Day weekend. And unlike most heading to New Jersey's beaches, this one prefers stingers over flip-flops.

Meet the Pelagia noctiluca — a jellyfish with a mauve stinger. People in the New Jersey Jellyspotters Facebook group have been seeing them more throughout the Shore's waters. Acceptable names for the creature also include the purple-striped jelly, purple stinger and purple people eater.

Both its tentacles and bell are covered in cnidocytes (stinging cells). Pain from the sting typically lasts one to two weeks and causes redness, swelling and a rash. The strings haven't induced any known deaths, but they occasionally produce symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea — all things that can ruin an otherwise lovely Jersey Shore outing.

"Sometimes people pick up dead jellyfish by the bell," Liza Baskin, a marine scientist at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology in Sandy Hook, told NJ Advance Media. "That should definitely not happen with this one because it can still sting you."

The purple jellyfish tends to live in open waters — often in the North Atlantic region — but it can wash up on the shore. The creature is rare in New Jersey.

The creatures usually appear mauve — a paler shade of purple — with a globe-shaped umbrella that's covered in orangey-brown warts, according to The Wildlife Trusts. Their long, thin tentacles hang down from around the bell.

Most who get stung by a jellyfish don't need to see their health care provider, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The medical center lists the following steps for treating mild stings:

• Wash the tentacles and venom off the affected area of your body with seawater. Don’t use fresh water.
• Remove any tentacles you see in your skin with tweezers and gloved hands.
• Apply vinegar or rubbing alcohol to the affected area to stop any more firings of nematocysts. Don't use vinegar for Portuguese man-of-war stings though, since it can cause more venom to get released.
• You can use calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream to help reduce the pain. An ice pack or hot water can help with the pain and swelling.

Contrary to the old wives' tale, you shouldn't pee on a jellyfish sting, the Cleveland Clinic says.