The sting is already in the water: millions of jellyfish are on their way to Israel
Experts estimate that a swarm of wired jellyfish, which have already begun to appear here and there, will reach the shores of Israel in the coming days and leave around the beginning of August.
"The good news is that we have not seen an increase in the number of jellyfish in the last decade," say researchers
Everything you need to know about the wave on the way
Yoav Itiel
20/06/2022
Monday, 20 June 2022, 14:40 Updated: 14:44
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In the video: Jellyfish at Zikim Beach (Photo: Zivan Freidin)
The jellyfish are not quite here yet, but a swarm of millions of them is expected to approach the shore later this week or next week.
"We still can not say whether it is a large or small swarm," he told Walla!
Marine ecologist Dr. Dor Adelist, one of the world's greatest experts on the subject of jellyfish, "it will probably be significant but not unusual," he added, "In any case it is millions of jellyfish that will reach the shores of the country." A swarm of wired jellyfish, completely normal.
This swarm is expected to reach the beach in the coming days. "
Dr. Adelist and his colleague, Dr. Dror Angel, also a marine researcher at the University of Haifa, have developed an application called" Jellyfish in the People ", which allows you to know in real time which beach has many jellyfish and which less. They define the app as "a kind of 'Wise' for jellyfish.
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Rely on observations.
Jellyfish Maps (Photo: Screenshot, Jellyfish Website Ltd.)
"This new platform relies on user reports to help everyone else choose which beach to choose," the two said.
"Thus, all the disappointment of arriving at a beach getaway, laden with umbrellas, coolers, children and towels, only to find that a swarm of jellyfish has reached the water in front of you - can be saved with one click, allowing users to choose beaches without jellyfish in real time."
Adelist and his colleagues rely on OFF-SHORE observations away from shore, which they receive from yacht, rig rig and kite surfers far from shore.
"I recommend sea bathers to also check the jellyfish site in the people often and if in the updated map the beaches are full of icons of goldsmith swarms - no need to get into the water, and if you do get in - then the body needs to be protected with wetsuits or lycra," Adelist said.
"You also need to know how to treat jellyfish bites, and to my delight some of the beaches already have aloe vera plants whose leaf takes out a gel when you cut it, and the gel is applied to the affected area."
Among the beaches where the plant is located, which is defined on the Clalit website as the most recognized and accessible medicinal plant in the country, it marks the beaches of Tel Aviv and Ashdod.
More on Walla!
Very close to the beach and will stay with us for 6 weeks: the jellyfish are already on their way
To the full article
"They deserve some love too."
Jellyfish (Photo: Yaniv Khalif, Barak David)
The jellyfish will not disappear from the beaches in the foreseeable future but "so far this year, there have been zero cases of severe burns from jellyfish," Adelist said.
"There are burns here and there because during the spring and autumn there are creatures in the water, distant relatives of the jellyfish, called siphonophores - but these burns were also relatively mild this year."
The most common jellyfish is the "migratory wire", which has been observed off the coast of the country mainly since the 1980s.
However, the jellyfish we now see close to shore are "coastal sea flower" jellyfish.
"It's a pleasant surprise because this jellyfish is not stinging," says Dr. Adelist.
"This genus was defined as a new species for science in 1908 by Gustav Stiasny, an Austrian scientist of Jewish descent who collected jellyfish, and predicted that in the future they would also reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal," he explains.
"In the end, he was right - in 2012 they began to visit the shores of Israel and began to settle on them, and since then they have been observed several times in summer swarms. They are very beautiful and in the last two weeks we see them mainly on the southern and central shores."
Believes the swarm will start leaving in August.
Dr. Adelist (Photo: Walla !, Dor Adelist)
"The good news is that we have not seen an increase in the number of jellyfish in the last decade, and on the other hand there is also no decrease," says Adelist.
"But we do see more and more winter swarms, and this year we had a swarm of wired jellyfish in the water continuously from November to April. Sitting outside and waiting to enter. "
He admits that it is difficult to predict what will happen later this year, but predicts that the swarm will start leaving the area in early August.
"Jellyfish are a big challenge that needs to be addressed and not a problem that needs to be solved, and they have importance in the food web in the Mediterranean," Dr. Adelist and Dr. Angel recently concluded a new study conducted at the University of Haifa and published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Because at sea, a new species that has invaded a new environment has never been eradicated. ".
Will you regret if one day they leave us without again?
"Absolutely not. There's enough work," Dr. Adelist replies.
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