Clinging jellyfish reappear in the Shrewsbury

Russ Zimmer | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch the clinging jellyfish glow Researchers have found that the clinging jellyfish light up green under a blue light.

The clinging jellyfish pack a nasty sting, but watch the video above to see what else they can do.

They're back.

After coming up empty on their first two attempts in May to locate clinging jellyfish, a tiny jellyfish with a nasty sting that first surfaced locally last year, researchers found 17 small adults while searching the Shrewsbury River, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

This is more evidence, scientists say, that the invasive species might be here to stay.

“This year’s individuals appear to be blooming at the same time as last year’s individuals,” said Paul Bologna, director of the Marine Biology and Coastal Sciences Program at Montclair State University, in a statement. “This suggests that annual blooms may become a common feature in New Jersey.”

Last year, the dime-sized invertebrates put a scare into Monmouth County as they propagated in the Shrewsbury River.

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One specimen was spotted at the mouth of the Point Pleasant Canal, sparking fears that the clinging jellyfish might have taken root in Barnegat Bay, but subsequent sampling in the bay turned up nothing.

The concern stems from the powerful shot of venom that the clinging jellyfish delivers when it contacts human skin.

A 20-year-old Middletown man was hospitalized for three days after being stung, later telling the Asbury Park Press, "I thought I was going to die."

The mini menace met its match in the sea nettle, which itself has flourished in the Shrewsbury during recent years like never before.

“It took about 10 or 12 minutes and then the sea nettle got a hold of it, once it got it in its feeding tentacles …then it was probably another 5 minutes before (the clinging jellyfish) was in its gut," Bologna told the Press last year of an experiment he ran in his lab. "The clinging jellyfish was desperate to get away, it just couldn’t.”

The numbers of clinging jellyfish plummeted as sea nettles matured in July.

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The state DEP says that seven sites within the Shrewsbury River estuary will be sampled this year, as well as additional locations in the Manasquan River and northern Barnegat Bay,

“One of the objectives of this continued study is to determine to what degree these clinging jellyfish are becoming established in our waters,” said Dr. Gary Buchanan, director of DEP’s Division of Science, Research and Environmental Health, in the news release. “This species had not been reported previously in New Jersey before last year and appears to be mostly limited to the Shrewsbury River. The challenge now is to determine what extent the clinging jellyfish are maintaining a population in this specific estuary.”

This particular species is native to the Pacific Ocean and "tends to attach itself to submerged aquatic vegetation and algae in back bays and estuaries." It has not been observed on ocean beaches, where the surf is believed to be too rough on their fragile bodies.

How do they find these tiny, hard-to-see jellies? Watch the video below to find out.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com