A swarm of thousands of jellyfish were seen blanketed across a beach in Georgia after washing up on shore.
On Friday, Facebook user Jodi Moody posted several pictures of the jellyfish, seen in Tybee Island, Georgia.
"JELLYFISH JAMBOREE !!" Moody wrote in the Facebook post. "I've never seen this many at once before?!"
While speaking with local news outlet WJCL in Georgia, Moody said that the the pictures showed cannonball jellyfish in all different sizes. Moody posted four different pictures of the jellyfish on Facebook, all of which show dozens scattered across the shore of the beach in Tybee Island.
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According to WJCL, Moody noted that the wind was very strong on the day she photographed the jellyfish, which is why she believed the massive amount of the washed up ashore. Moody estimated that the jellyfish blanketed an area of around 200 feet of shoreline, according to WJCL.
Moody is a resident of Wilmington Island, Georgia and she told WJCL that she has never seen anything like this before.
Newsweek reached out to Moody for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, cannonball jellyfish are extremely popular in the nation's Southeast coastline.
"Cannonball jellyfish (sometimes referred to simply as cannonballs) are by far the most prominent species of jellyfish on the southeastern coast of the United States," the Georgia Department of Natural Resources wrote in a description of the jellyfish. "During the seasons of fall and summer, they are found to be incredibly abundant. During these times, cannonballs make up over 16% of biomass on the coastline."
While jellyfish are commonly known to sting humans, cannonball jellyfish "are not known for stinging humans" but instead "secrete a toxic mucus that will harm small fish, and drive away most predators," the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources "the toxin from a cannonball can cause cardiac problems in both humans and animals alike."
Newsweek reached out to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for comment on the recent sighting of cannonball jellyfish but did not receive a response in time for publication.
This is not the first time hundreds of jellyfish have been seen washing up on the shore of beaches across the Southeast coastline.
In April, dozens of jellyfish were seen washing up on the shores of beaches in South Carolina.
While speaking with Myrtle Beach Online, Erin Weeks, spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said that there at least seven different types of jellyfish species that can be found in the state but noted that "most commonly seen onshore by beachgoers are likely cannonballs, which are most common here in the warmer months."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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