UK underneath jellyfish invasion as 1000’s of stinging beasts noticed alongside coast

Thousands of jellyfish known to pack a “powerful punch” in their sting have been found in British waters.

Mauve stingers cannot kill humans, but they can cause a nasty and painful sting. They were spotted along a stretch of coastline 30 miles long between Falmouth and St Austell in Cornwall, far from their usual home in the Mediterranean around 1,000 miles away.

Mauve stingers, also known as Pelagia noctiluca, can be identified by their globe-shaped body covered in orangey, brown warts and long tentacles, What’s The Jam reported. Rachael Edmans spotted some of them while out paddling in Falmouth. “I was very surprised to see so many mauve stingers,” she said. “Usually we see lots of compass jellyfish. But never that many.”

Alison Wilcock saw thousands near St Austell. “We usually get a few every year but nothing like this,” she said. “The whole of St Austell bay is teeming with them.”

A Wildlife Trust spokesperson said: “The mauve stinger is a small jellyfish, but it certainly packs a powerful punch.

“With long tentacles and warty structures on its ‘bell’ full of stinging cells. Small crustaceans known as amphipods hang out inside the ring of tentacles and are able to survive unharmed.

“The mauve stinger likes to feed on other small jellyfish and oceanic sea squirts, also known as ascidians.”

Thousands of the creatures forced British swimmers to call off a 31 mile sea crossing after they were attacked. Sara Harris, Nick Board, Stewart Douglas, Steve Copper and Jacqui Woodward were 15 hours into the September swim when it happened. The group was forced to abandon the project with a mere 3.8 miles to go and were left covered in stings.

A number of jellyfish are known to live in Cornish waters. Wild Swimming Cornwall said: “Most of them are harmless and there are only a couple of species which sting.”

Professor Stuart Bearhop told the website the only species in British waters to be concerned about is the Portuguese man o’ war.

He said: “These are in a different group to the ones outlined above and can produce quite severe reactions in humans, they can have very long tentacles extending out from the float and main body. These occur in small numbers most years and usually in the autumn. However in some years they are extremely abundant.”

More and more jellyfish are expected to invade our shores thanks to rising sea temperatures.

One expert even said that stingrays could be next to make their way to the British and Irish coast. As the waters off England, Ireland, Wales and even as far north as Scotland get warmer, they create a more favourable environment for the reproduction and survival of jellyfish, leading to a booming population.

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