Invasion of the Medusa Finally Ends: Heavy winter rains resulted in massive summer influx of jellyfish along Israel’s Mediterranean coast
Israel Today
August 7, 2019
This year the Mediterranean coast and beaches of Israel saw what is being called the largest swarm ever of jellyfish, or medusa in Hebrew from the Latin. For close to a month during some of the summer’s hottest July temperatures, Israelis have stayed out of the water to avoid the painful stings from the poisonous substance these slimy creatures secrete.
Experts explained that the extremely high numbers of jellyfish that invaded Israeli beaches were drawn to the large amounts of nutrients that flooded into the Mediterranean coast along Israel with this year’s unusually high quantities of rainfall. These nutrients provide food for fish and other marine life, including jellyfish.
The stinging jellyfish not only caused trouble for Israelis and tourists wanting to cool down during the extreme July heat waves, but hordes of jellyfish also clogged and disrupted a sea-cooled electric power station in southern Israel.
Israelis set up a website called Medusa.co.il that charts the movements of the pesky jellyfish to find out which beaches are most affected and where the waters are safest for swimming.
Thankfully, as estimated by experts, reports are now coming in that the swarms of jellyfish that have invaded Israel for over a month are finally moving along, and we can all go back to the beach for a nice cool dunk in the sea just in time for August, the hottest month of the year in Israel.
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