Giant stinging jellyfish spotted off Rhodes

Scientists on Rhodes have confirmed that four nomad jellyfish, a large species that can cause very painful injuries to humans, have been found in waters around the Dodecanese island in the last 24 hours.

“The Rhopilema nomadica, also known as the nomadic jellyfish, is bell-shaped, has a transparent-bluish color, whose diameter can reach up to one meter,” the Rhodes Hydrobiological Station said.

Nomad jellyfish have eight thick tentacles that contain millions of nematocysts, which, upon contact with a foreign body, release a microscopic “harpoon” carrying venom.

“The appearance of jellyfish outbreaks is a transient phenomenon that usually lasts from a few hours to a few days, and depends mainly on sea currents. At the same time, the increase in the temperature of the planet, and therefore of the sea, due to climate change, creates favorable conditions for the appearance of such outbreaks in the jellyfish populations,” the Rhodes Hydrobiological Station said.

The scientists pointed out that sea temperatures around the island are 3°C higher than last year, adding that the decline in sea turtles, for whom jellyfish are a staple food, has also contributed to the increase in the jellyfish population.

Indigenous to the Indian and Pacific oceans, since the 1970s nomad jellyfish have passed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.

Earlier this month, sightings of the stinging jellyfish were also reported in Cyprus. [Kathimerini/ERT]