As Kiwis head to the beach this summer, they might encounter pesky jellyfish.
Summer Times spoke to a jellyfish expert from NIWA, Dennis Gordon, to explain which jellyfish are where in New Zealand this summer, and what to do if you do get a sting.
Gordan tells Jesse Mulligan he became an expert on jellyfish simply through working at NIWA and getting enquiries from the public.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
“It’s been a matter of becoming familiar with the species and their characteristics and what to do about them if you see them or get stung.”
The correct term for jellyfish, Gordan points out, is jellies – but that encompasses three very distinct groups of organisms. Jellyfish, as a term, is more easily understood.
“When you talk about jelly, you have to be more specific.”
While jellyfish may not have brains, they’re one of the world’s oldest organisms having lived for around half a billion years.
“They’ve had plenty of time to get their act together in terms of sensing their environment and knowing how to catch food and reproduce. They may be effectively brainless, but they’re pretty successful.”
Gordan says there are three stinging jellyfish people should be wary of at the beach this time of year, along with their relative – the Portuguese man o’ war, commonly called a bluebottle.
One is the lion’s mane which he says is recognisable because of its size.
“It’s generally 30 centimetres across and has a mop of pinkish tentacles underneath and worts on top the bell.”
A close relative is the spotted jelly which is recognisable from its polka dots.
Another one, the moon jelly, is common but humans don’t really feel the sting of it.
The Portuguese man o’ war, Gordan says, isn’t actually a true jellyfish but a siphonophore – an animal made up of a colony of organisms.
With climate change and warming waters, Gordan says we will begin to see more types of jellyfish in our oceans.
He says with increasing light and warmer temperatures, jellyfish will be the main beneficiaries of plant plankton when it hits the oceans in Spring.
If you’re stung by a jellyfish, Gordan says not to pee on it.
“The best thing to do if you get stung is to flush it vigorously with seawater, not fresh water, and if there’s any bits of tentacles clinging to your skin, scrape those off.”
