PADRE ISLAND, Texas – Visitors to Port Aransas and Padre Island beaches may have encountered an unusual sight lately: a cotton candy-looking jellyfish.
The rare “pink meanie” jellyfish are washing ashore and swarming the waters off the South Texas coast, thanks to their preferred prey.
Jace Tunnell, director of community engagement for the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, told KSAT that the “pink meanie” jellyfish are feeding on moon jellyfish along the coast.
“There are thousands of moon jellyfish right now, swarming the marinas in Port Aransas. Pretty cool to see,” Tunnell said. “When the conditions get right, the moon jellyfish bloom. Just so happens that the pink meanie feeds on moon jellyfish, so we are seeing quite a few of those as well, which is not as common.”
Tunnell focused on the “pink meanie” jellyfish, scientifically known as the Drymonema larsoni, in a recent episode of “Beachcombing with Jace Tunnell.”
In the video, Tunnell said they will die off “real quick” if there are no moon jellyfish to feed on, or if the water gets cold.
“So to be able to see them is pretty rare,” he said in the video.
These types of jellyfish can grow up to 70 feet long and weigh more than 50 pounds, Tunnell said. While they look alien-like, they only pack a mild sting.
A KSAT viewer sent several videos of the jellyfish to the KSAT newsroom, saying it was “crazy” to see the amount of “pink meanie” jellyfish in the waters near Aransas Pass and Port Aransas.
“I’ve never seen one like this,” the viewer said.
A Facebook user who commented on Tunnell’s video said they saw “dozens of big ones” along the beach north of Padre Island National Seashore.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, jellyfish are year-round residents in Texas waters.
The most commonly encountered jellyfish are moon jellyfish, sea nettles and cannonball jellyfish.
While Portuguese man o’wars and Ctenophores are also common in Texas, they are not true jellyfish, according to TPWD.