PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Invasive tiny jellyfish with a big sting are showing up along the Jersey Shore.
Clinging jellyfish are native to the Pacific Ocean but have been appearing in the Atlantic Ocean, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, for the past decade. Recently, they were spotted in the Metedeconk River in Brick Township, Ocean County, when 6-year-old Amelia was floating in the water.
"High-pitched screaming, running out of the water. Just kept screaming, 'It hurts, it hurts,’” said Carol O’Neill of her granddaughter, Amelia.
She told our newsgathering partners at NBC10 that Amelia was floating in the river outside her family’s home earlier this week. A rash on her chest kept growing, and she was in pain for days.
Dr. Paul Bologna, director of marine biology and coastal sciences at Montclair State University, said he is confident that tiny clinging jellyfish are the cause of the rash.
"The sting is nothing to sort of sneeze at,” Bologna said.
Bologna has been collecting samples of clinging jellyfish. He is looking into the possibility that the brutally cold winter may have impacted the reproductive cycle and increased the jellyfish population this season.
The creatures are not found in the ocean. They are mostly found in shallow water, back bays and coastal rivers in May and June.
