Two people visiting Barnegat Bay went to the hospital over the weekend after being stung, apparently by clinging jellyfish, News 4 New York has learned.
The small, disc-shaped jellyfish was first seen at the mouth of the Metedeconk River at the North End a few weeks ago. Now some 40 or so have been fish out of the waters off Island Beach State Park, several miles to the south.
Montclair State University jellyfish researcher Paul Bologna, along with DEP researchers, easily found more than three dozen planning jellyfish Monday morning.
The two people who were stung ended up going to the emergency room for medical and attention and "were on some pretty serious medicine, including morphine," said Bologna. The stings weren't considered life-threatening, however.
Bologna said bay swimmers need to be vigilant, as he suspects the clinging jellyfish will be found in other bay locations as well.
Meanwhile, the dangerous Portuguese man-o-war has now been spotted as far north up the Jersey shore as Lavallette in Ocean County. Beachgoers there spotted the jellyfish with the painful sting over the weekend.
