Jellyfish in the Mediterranean: fried egg, stinging, anaphylactic shock… how to differentiate these species to worry less ?

Jellyfish can easily ruin our trips to the sea. On the Mediterranean coasts, many species have been recorded. In order to help tourists or locals on the coast, we teach you how to differentiate them.

“A jellyfish stings because that is its hunting method. If it did not sting, it would not be able to feed”, confides Fabien Lombard, researcher at the Oceanography Laboratory of Villefranche-sur-Mer to Actu.fr. He explains that jellyfish are organisms that are blind and brainless. They sting everything they touch, so they can eat it later.

What are the least dangerous jellyfish ?

The fried egg jellyfish only lives in the Mediterranean. The Cotylorhiza tuberculata is so named because of its resemblance to a fried egg, due to its large, colorful umbrella. This organism does not sting too much, according to the researcher.

Its large, colorful umbrella has earned it its name, the fried egg jellyfish. MAXPPP – Florian Launette

The rhizostome jellyfish, also called the sea lung, Rhizostoma pulmo, for the more scientific, is also very little stinging. Its size can reach up to one meter, and measures between 30 and 60 cm in diameter. It is recognizable by a blue-purple border, and a bell-shaped umbrella.

The rhizostome jellyfish is recognizable by a blue-purple border, and a bell-shaped umbrella. http://imagebroker.com/#/search/8797725

Despite the fact that these jellyfish sting very little, it is important to maintain a "certain concern", warns the researcher.

Which jellyfish should you be most wary of ?

Fabien Lombard describes the pelagic jellyfish as "the famous purple-pink with small dots on the umbrella". This jellyfish is more violent, and unlike others, this species is present all year round in the Mediterranean. It measures only 10 cm in diameter. The Pelagia noctiluca has four large arms and eight filaments. Transparent and dotted with pink or purple luminescent spots, he explains on his site. It is the most stinging on our coasts.

The Pelagia noctiluca has four large arms and eight filaments. Transparent, it is nevertheless dotted with pink or purple luminescent spots. http://imagebroker.com/#/search/5229899

It usually lives in tropical waters. The sea bladder is multiplying in the Mediterranean, and its presence has led to the closure of beaches in Catalonia. Also called the Portuguese galley or physalia, “it is not a jellyfish”. It is bluish, with long filaments that easily reach tens of meters in length. “It can cause victims to develop anaphylactic shock”, he told our colleagues.

The Portuguese galley is bluish, with long filaments that easily reach tens of meters in length. ICM-CSIC – –

How to react ?

Even when stranded on the beach, jellyfish remain dangerous. Their cells inject their venom under the skin thanks to a tiny harpoon automatically upon contact with the skin.

In case of stinging, the researcher insists on not panicking, you have to get out of the water, take a handful of wet sand and rub, thus removing the stinging cells. You will have to remove the filaments on the skin and apply an ointment with cortisone on your skin.