Experts have warned about the number of jellyfish that amass in Britain's beaches noting that it is the second year in a row that the creatures appear in record numbers.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS)said that the public already made 1,000 sightings of jellyfish across the UK last month even before the peak month of August.
The Portuguese man o' war, one of the deadliest jellyfish in the world, was also found washed up in Devon and Cornwall beaches last month causing alarm that there could be more on the way as the warm waters and strong winds tend to encourage these stingers to drift west.
"A Portuguese man o' war can deliver a very serious and painful sting and their tentacles are exceptionally long and often quite invisible, so can become wrapped around people's arms, leaving nasty welts that take weeks to heal," said Marine conservation volunteer Delia Webb.
From 1,000 in 2013, the sightings increased to 1,400 last year and experts said that the number of jellyfish is likely to soar again this year.
The marine society said that the increasing number of jellyfish should no longer be ignored saying that more research and monitoring are crucial for understanding this phenomenon. Experts acknowledged that they currently have no clear explanation for the increasing number of jellyfish.
The MCS said that most of the sightings involved barrel jellyfish.
"Our National Jellyfish Survey suggests significant recent rises in the numbers of some jellyfish species in UK seas, most notably the barrel," said Peter Richardson, from the MCS. "Is this an anomaly, a coincidence, or are the jellyfish telling us something about fundamental changes in the condition of our seas?"
Although jellyfish blooms are not a new phenomenon, it has crucial economic and social effects. Moon jellyfish blooms, for instance, has resulted in the closure of nuclear power stations in the U.K which led to the industry making investments on remote sensing mechanisms that aims to detect increases in jellyfish near power plants.
Large blooms of mauve stinger jellyfish also wiped out stocks of salmon in fish farms as well as cause the closure of bathing beaches because of the creature's painful sting.
Richarson said that that the government should commission dedicated research and monitoring so as to find answers about what is happening with the number of jellyfish, why this is happening and what will be its implications on the seas.
Tony Hisgett | Flickr
