Costa Brava resorts in Spain’s north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and

Resorts on Spain’s Costa Brava struggle with invasion of jellyfish as seas warm

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2024-08-30 11:00:02

Costa Brava resorts in Spain’s north-east are struggling to cope with an influx of jellyfish as rising sea temperatures facilitate reproduction and drive species farther north.

Between May and August almost 7,500 people on the Catalan coast sought medical attention for jellyfish stings – a 41% increase on last year. The stings are painful and can have unpleasant consequences for anyone with compromised immunity.

MedusApp (jellyfish are medusas in Spanish), a citizen science phone app set up to allow the public to record sightings and stings, has reported hundreds each day this summer. It publishes a map that is updated in real time to help people avoid beaches with large numbers of jellyfish.

The majority of jellyfish on the Catalan coast are the relatively harmless fried egg (Cotylorhiza tuberculata) and barrel (Rhizotoma pulmo) varieties.

However, two beaches in Tarragona in southern Catalonia were closed in July after Portuguese man o’war (Physalia physalis) were spotted in the water. The sting of this siphonophore (it is not technically a jellyfish, but they are closely related) is especially painful.