Due to the difficulty of knowing the impact that jellyfish will have in our seas, experts highlight the need to establish a common protocol for data records of distribution of jellyfish along the coast to be able to make short-term predictions of jellyfish on certain beaches.
We are talking about some hydrozoans that fulfill their life cycle on the coast. The jellyfish rise at night from the seabed to feed on the surface and that is where and, despite the fact that this action is carried out kilometers from the coast, due to their characteristic weather vane, they are transported by the breezes towards the coast, where they die stranded on the beach.
How do you know if there are jellyfish?
Although we can see them in the shallowest part of the coasts , the most sensible options are to ask the local lifeguard services, as well as check the latest news from the websites of the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs and the Red Cross Española and some applications such as Medjelly, an app created in Spain by the CSIC and the Mediterranean Science Commission that alerts us to the jellyfish that roam the beach at that time or if you are on the southernmost coast of Spain, Infomedusa, from the Aula Del Mar Málaga Sociedad Cooperativa Andaluza that informs us not only of the presence of jellyfish but also of the state of the water, coastal services …
According to Josep Maria Gili, research professor at the National Council for Scientific Research of the Sea of Barcelona, in dry years and with little rain the presence of jellyfish on the coasts is more abundant, so it could give us clues as to how the waters will be presented this summer .
It is true that there are some species of jellyfish that always live in the open sea and reach the beaches more regularly during the summer season, explains the expert. Thus, the fact that we find more jellyfish on the coasts depends on the climatic conditions that allow the oceanic waters to reach the coast, causing these waters to have a similar temperature and salinity, something that happens especially in the years with little rain and rather dry, clarifies Gili.
Why do jellyfish sting us?
According to the Ministry for Ecological Transition , “jellyfish, like all cnidarians, have stinging cells called cnidocysts. These cells contain a venom that is inoculated in the prey mainly by means of a filament equipped with spines. By simple contact with the prey, the cells shoot and sting ”.
I respect
Thanks to the information and public awareness campaigns we cannot forget that jellyfish are an essential component of plankton and of ecosystems and marine food chains and for which the sea is their natural environment, their world, so the measures of Protection must be selective and respectful of the marine environment in order to make the conservation and protection of the sea compatible with the recreational use we make of the beaches and their environment.
