BEACH HAVEN – A rare jellyfish made an appearance on Long Beach Island recently, spotted by a Pennsylvania native while walking along the shore.
NJ.com reported that it was Suzanne Schnenker of New Hope, PA that discovered four of these rare jellyfish while walking on the beach with her son and dogs in Beach Haven.
The jellyfish is reportedly a blue button jellyfish, extremely rare to New Jersey but native to places like Florida or the tropics.
Schnenker said their coloring was so blue it was “unreal.”
“I’m so glad I snapped a picture, but I just wish I had realized how rare they were at the time and saved one for the jelly spotters to do DNA testing on,” she told NJ.com.
Marine biologist at Montclair State University Paul Bologna requested, via the New Jersey Jellyspotters Facebook page, that anyone who comes across one of these jellyfish grab it so DNA testing can be done.
“Holding in rubbing alcohol will preserve the DNA if anyone sees and grabs one,” he said.
Bologna believes the blue button jellyfish may have migrated here due to Hurricane Florence.
