Jellyfish season officially begins
With the weather warming up and beaches beginning to become crowded, jellyfish season begins in Israel; researchers unsure if current sightings are summer swarm or leftovers from winter.
"Jellyfish are with us all the time, especially the most common species, the nomad jellyfish, which is now at the point in its lifecycle where it is reproducing and multiplying," explained Dr. Dror Angel of the Institute for Maritime Studies at Haifa University.
"The jellyfish did not come early this year, they usually appear in May, but until now they were trickling in and only now there is an upsurge," said Angel, adding that there is also no expectation of the jellyfish disappearing from Israel's shores anytime soon.
"The urban legend that the jellyfish arrive on May 9th is nothing but a myth. In July there are almost always jellyfish, and only towards August-September do they disappear. It depends on the year and it is impossible to predict when the sea will be emptied of them."
According to Dr. Hadas Levinsky, a researcher at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, there is no reason to panic. According to her, the jellyfish swarm has not yet reached the area.
"We see mostly trickles of very large jellyfish. There are no jellyfish like that at the beginning of a swarm, meaning that they are jellyfish from winter that sit on the bottom and with the warming of the water begin to multiply and only after two months grow to that size.
"Three years ago there was also a winter swarm followed by a relatively short summer swarm. What will it be this time? We don't know, but a significant summer swarm has not yet arrived."
Thursday and Wednesday morning researchers reported jellyfish sightings from Haifa in the north to Ashkelon in the south.
