Israel’s Beaches are Swarming with Jellyfish

Every summer, Israel’s Mediterranean coast fills with jellyfish, but this year’s swarm is worse than ever! These sea animals with tiny stingers show up every year, usually in July. Some years are worse than others and this is definitely a year of infiltration.

The first photo is from Rotem Sade with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority after one of its marine units saw a huge swarm of the slimy stinging creatures off the Haifa coast this week.

Most of the jellyfish seen in the Eastern Mediterranean are invasive species that reach Israeli waters from the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal.

Jellyfish are huge this year.

Jellyfish (meduza in Hebrew) over the past two years have been larger than normal. The second photo is of a University of Haifa marine scientist examines a huge swarm of jellyfish off Haifa’s coast. Photo by Hagai Nativ. Prof. Dror Angel theorized that their size was related to an abundant diet caused by a domino effect kicked off by a rainy winter. The runoff reaching the sea provided a lot of nutrients that fed algae; which were eaten by small plankton herbivores; which were a yummy dinner for the jellyfish.

Jellyfish that washed ashore.

I was visiting Jerusalem one July and found many jellyfish in the water and many that had washed ashore in Tel Aviv. There were warning signs everywhere, not to go into the water. My photo is to the left.

So if you’re at the beach in Israel, be very careful of the white blobs that could give you a nasty sting.