Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

MONMOUTH BEACH - Clinging jellyfish, a venomous dime-sized species that has taken up residence in Barnegat Bay and the Shrewsbury River, is likely present in the Navesink River as well, according to a leading jellyfish expert.

Paul Bologna, director of the Marine Biology and Coastal Sciences Program at Montclair State University, said Tuesday that people who use the Shore's bays and the rivers need to be on high alert.

“This is not a simple jellyfish sting that you might see with a sea nettle. … These give a pretty potent punch with their venom,” he said, noting a 20-year-old was hospitalized last week by what he suspects was a clinging jellyfish.

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Bologna was in Monmouth Beach Tuesday morning to gather specimens from a Columbus Drive dock in the Shrewsbury River. The Asbury Park Press reported that over the weekend boaters there happened upon a cluster of the tiny jellies that are marked by a distinctive "x" across their pad.

On Monday, Emily Sgro, 19, told the Press that she was shocked to see so many around her family's dock because news of the species had only popped up in the last few weeks and those sightings had been of single jellies.

"We want people to know that these are out there," she said of her reasons for contacting the Press, "and there’s a lot more than people think."

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Bologna agrees. In fact, he gathered another few dozen clinging jellyfish from near the Sgro dock on Tuesday morning.

“When you start to see that many in an area, that’s not a random or chance occurrence," he said. "It means that there is a good number of these guys around."

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Since the Shrewsbury and the Navesink share nearly identical environments "it is reasonable to assume (the clinging jellyfish) are in the Navesink as well."

Bologna said that his team has not searched there, and they've have had no spottings of the jellies in the Navesink.

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However, reports have been spiking since a Brick fisherman captured the first confirmed clinging jellyfish in the Barnegat Bay earlier this month, so it could just be a matter of time.

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This infestation is not expected to impact ocean beaches because the clinging jellyfish is too delicate for the churning waves of the Atlantic.

Bologna interviewed a Middletown man who was stung on his side by one of these creatures last week. Matt Carlo described the pain as so severe that morphine "only took the edge off."

The biology professor sometimes intentionally subjects himself to stings of different species — he let a Portuguese Man O' War sting him last year — for scientific reasons.

On Tuesday, Bologna said after talking to Carlo about his excruciating experience he said to himself "No, I'm not going to do that."

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