Mar Menor jellyfish population could explode in the coming weeks
Anti-jellyfish nets will only be installed in four key locations along the Mar Menor this summer
The decision has been made to erect anti-jellyfish on four Mar Menor beaches from the middle of this month and the timing couldn’t be better, as the experts believe their populations, pretty low up until now, could start increasing in the coming weeks.
In the past, these unwelcome seaside visitors have started appearing as early as June but the Murcia spring has been virtually without jellyfish, which is why the deployment of the nets has been delayed.
Jellyfish usually arrive when there is a sudden change in temperature, which triggers their eggs to hatch.
However, because the temperatures have been so stable all winter and the spring was unseasonably mild, the hatchlings haven’t appeared yet. That’s not to say there have been no jellyfish births. In fact, May was a bit of a boom for the slimy creatures in the Mar Menor - Ángel Pérez Ruzafa, president of the Mar Menor Scientific Committee, counted more than 4,500 along the coast.
The temperature of the Mar Menor has risen by almost a full degree over the past two weeks, triggering a jellyfish hatching frenzy. If these sweltering temperatures hold firm, more and more could arrive to bother bathers in the next month or so, according to the expert.
But on the other hand, if there are no fresh hatches, the existing jellyfish usually move on.
Last summer, after a two-year hiatus, anti-jellyfish nets were erected in August, by which time the beaches had become overrun. Even with fewer numbers this year, town councils have been pleading for them for weeks, and the Scientific Advisory Committee has finally agreed they can go up at Villananitos and Lo Pagán beaches in San Pedro del Pinatar, as well as Veneziola and El Pantalán beaches at the end of La Manga in San Javier.
Also of interest: 10 most common - and dangerous - jellyfish found in the waters in Spain
Image: Archive
