SAN ANTONIO – Visitors to Padre Island and Port Aransas recently got to see more than just a beautiful Texas coastline.
Some experienced a rare sight to see: pink meanie jellyfish.
“They’re not very common at all. We only see them in the warmer months, they don’t like cold at all,” Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division science director Mark Fisher said.
Fisher said the pink meanie sightings is a special event that many may not even realize.
The species they are seeing in Texas waters was first discovered back in the early 2000’s.
“It was originally thought to be one of the cousins from the Mediterranean,” Fisher said. “But further genetic analysis that was published in 2011 determined: no, it’s a whole new species that’s native to the Gulf.”
With the species’ existence coming to light over the last couple decades, Fisher said there is still a lot unknowns that researchers and scientists are searching for clarity about the pink meanie jellyfish from one state’s coastline to the next.
Like many other species, their size can vary.
“I know they found one off the Dauphin Island that was almost three feet across, 70 feet long,” Fisher said. “They thought was 50 pounds.”
Dauphin Island is approximately 3.5 miles off the Alabama coast and is home to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL).
Dr. Keith Bayha, a former post-doctoral student with DISL, conducted the genetic analysis that led to the acceptance of the Gulf pink meanie as a new species and new family.
When looking into what a pink meanie is, many people focus on the meanie’s tentacles, which can potentially grow up to 70 feet long.
For perspective, Brayden, the adult male giraffe at the San Antonio Zoo, is 15 feet tall.
Nearly five Braydens stacked on top of each other would be enough to equal the height of one Gulf pink meanie.
Fisher said the pink meanie’s diet primarily consists of moon jellyfish.
“The moon jellyfish is one of the most abundant jellyfish worldwide,” Samantha Mehr, the senior animal care specialist at the San Antonio Zoo’s Richard Friedrich Aquarium, said. “So, in the Gulf of Mexico, they’re present almost all year round.”
The San Antonio Zoo does not have any pink meanies, but it does have moon jellyfish. Mehr said a spike in the number of moons in the Gulf can be a nice buffet for the pink meanie.
“Moon jellies do have their own nematocysts, but they’re pretty weak,” Mehr said. “They have their own venom as well, but again, it’s pretty weak.”
Fisher said the pink meanie does not have a stomach, so they eat the moon jellyfish with their tentacles.
“They can actually digest a moon jelly in about two to three hours,” Fisher said. “That’s remarkably fast.”
Fisher and Mehr both said humans encountering pink meanie jellyfish should not be concerned.
They said the meanie’s tentacles only deliver what is described as a mild sting and a possible rash to humans.
When the weather gets cold and/or once the moon jellyfish are gone, the pink meanies will disappear, as well.
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