More than 38,000 people were stung by bluebottles in Queensland over summer, with warmer weather and wind conditions pushing thousands of jellyfish towards beaches.

Surf Life Saving Queensland's annual summer statistics show an increase in reported stings of 900 per cent from 2016 when just 3,500 stings were recorded.

Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin, director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services, said the conditions this season were perfect for making "jellyfish go nuts".

"We've had hotter than normal and odd weather in Australia this summer," she said.

"The warmer weather makes them breed more, live longer, and the right wind conditions bring them in.

"Bluebottles sit out in the middle of the ocean in vast armadas and when the wind comes it simply picks them up."

Dr Gershwin said the large number of bluebottles, also known as Portuguese man-o'-war jellyfish, came from eastern Australian waters and are also widespread in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

"This has been a big year for stingers with an enormous amount of all kinds of jellyfish going a bit nuts this year.

"There has been bluebottles everywhere you look and I'm shocked at the number of jellyfish.

"But I'm not surprised at the number of stings considering the number of jellyfish that were in the water."

She said although winds had been pushing the jellyfish to shore, not all bluebottles travelled that way.

Bluebottles stranded on the beach on the Gold Coast. ( Supplied: Surf Lifesaving Queensland )

"The wind doesn't pick all of them up as some are right and some are left-handed," Dr Gershwin told ABC Radio Brisbane's Craig Zonca.

"It only picks up the ones that have the correct-facing sail for whatever that breeze is doing.

"They sail along that wind until it drops off or they hit land and they come in in vast numbers."

Where do they go in winter?

The cooler weather will see the bluebottles drift elsewhere.

"They will become less numerous over the coming months as they do tend to be more during the heights of summer," Dr Gershwin said.

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"We will still get some influxes of bluebottles but hopefully we won't get those sort of numbers.

"I think we've gotten hammered enough this year."

Are Irukandji jellyfish moving south?

Despite numerous media reports, Dr Gershwin said there had been no credible data to show that tropical species of Irukandji jellyfish were moving south.

"We do know that there is a rising tide of awareness in southern waters, but they have been around forever but in very low numbers," she said.

Irukandji jellyfish caught on far north Queensland beaches preserved in formaldehyde. ( ABC Far North: Mark Rigby )

"They've been south for a long time and there has been clusters in the 1930s in Moreton Bay and Botany Bay in New South Wales of Irukandji syndrome cases."

She said Irukandji referred to the syndrome, not the species, therefore any species that caused the syndrome could collectively be called Irukandji.

"There are native species that live everywhere," Dr Gershwin added.