Clinging Jellyfish That Plagued Metedeconk, Tices Shoal, Are Back

The clinging jellyfish that drew warnings last summer for those taking a dip in Barnegat Bay and the Metedeconk River have been found in the bay already in 2019.

Paul Bologna, director of the Marine Biology and Coastal Sciences Program at Montclair State University, who has been monitoring the jellyfish, said nearly 300 were collected last week from the bay. They were on display over the weekend at the Ocean Fun Days events at Island Beach State Park and at Sandy Hook.

The clinging jellyfish is not native to the Jersey Shore but is from the Pacific Ocean, and is small and difficult to spot in the water, the state Department of Environmental Protection has said. A sting can produce severe pain and other localized symptoms and, in some cases, can result in hospitalization.

It is not known to inhabit ocean beaches or other sandy areas but tends to attach itself to submerged aquatic vegetation and algae in back bays and estuaries, the DEP said.

The clinging jellyfish was first confirmed in New Jersey in 2016 in the Manasquan River at the Point Pleasant Canal. The DEP has been working with Montclair University in studying them since; surveys in 2016 and 2017 found a single clinging jellyfish from the Manasquan River and did not detect the jellyfish outside isolated populations in the Shrewsbury River.

Bologna, in the Facebook group New Jersey Jellyspotters, said he is working with the DEP to update the interactive map that tracks where the jellyfish have been found. He was hoping the updates will be available in time for Memorial Day weekend. That map can be found by clicking here.

Bologna also said they are doing more water samples later this week.

Clinging jellyfish are small and very difficult to spot in the water, ranging in size from about a dime to about the size of a quarter. They have a distinctive red, orange or violet cross across their middle. Sea nettles, which prey on clinging jellyfish, are larger and while they also sting, their sting is far less powerful.

Both the adult, or medusa, and polyp stages of the clinging jellyfish are capable of stinging and can trail 60 to 90 tentacles that uncoil like sharp threads and emit painful neurotoxins. Tentacles grow to be about 3 inches long. Clinging jellyfish primarily feed on zooplankton.

If you are stung by a clinging jellyfish:

• Apply white vinegar to the affected area to immobilize any remaining stinging cells.
• Rinse the area with salt water and remove any remaining tentacle materials using gloves or a thick towel.
• A hot compress or cold pack can then be applied to alleviate pain.
• If symptoms persist or pain increases instead of subsiding, seek prompt medical attention.

Clinging jellyfish do not swim or migrate but can be spread by boats and in ballast. They were first observed in the eastern Atlantic at Woods Hole, Mass. By the 1920s, they had spread to other waterways in Massachusetts and Connecticut, likely through introduction by ship ballast or from Pacific oysters containing polyps.

If you see a clinging jellyfish, do not try to capture it. Take a photograph if possible and send it to Dr. Paul Bologna at bolognap@mail.montclair.edu or Joseph Bilinski at joseph.bilinski@dep.nj.gov along with location information.

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