![\"Experts](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/freshwater-jellyfish-invasive.jpg\")
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\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
As the world\u2019s oceans undergo a dramatic rise<\/a> in temperature, jellyfish blooms have become a regular occurrence, threatening both beachgoing tourists<\/a> and coastal infrastructure<\/a> around the world.<\/p>\n But experts are also scrambling to explain a rise in reporting of jellyfish blooms in one of the last places anyone would expect: the freshwater lakes of middle America.<\/p>\n In the dog days of summer this year, local news outlets began reporting on sightings of rare freshwater jellyfish drifting in all manner of freshwater sources: from the Midwestern waters of Lake Erie<\/a> to ornamental ponds of northwest Arkansas<\/a> to the oxbow lakes of Oklahoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n Technically known as Craspedacusta sowerbii, or \u201cpeach blossom jellyfish,\u201d the freshwater critters measure in at about the size of a penny. Sporting translucent bodies with a white-greenish tint, peach blossom jellies have anywhere from 50 to 500 tentacles, four of which can grow to be \u201cvery long,\u201d according to a US Geological Survey factsheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unlike their sea-bound brethren, the freshwater jellyfish don\u2019t pose a threat to humans. They do, however, pose a threat to American freshwater ecosystems. Native to the shallow pools which dot the sides of the Yangtze River in China, peach blossom jellyfish were first recorded<\/a> in the Great Lakes region as early as 1933, assumed to have migrated as a byproduct of the global fish trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n The USGS describes freshwater jellyfish as opportunistic predators, feasting on small organisms<\/a> that drift too close, like zooplankton, arthropods, and occasionally, fish larva. With few known predators aside from crayfish, peach blossom jellies threaten native freshwater fish<\/a> in the competition for resources.<\/p>\n One team of researchers, in a joint research venture<\/a> between Wheaton College in Illinois and the University of Kansas, set out to trace the proliferation of freshwater jellies into the Midwest, and the threats they pose to local food chains. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to figure out the cues that control some aspects of the Craspedacusta life cycle,\u201d Nadine Folino Rorem, one of the study\u2019s authors said in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration blog<\/a>. \u201cOur objective was to assess where jellyfish fit in food dynamics, and competition dynamics as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting in 2022, the nearly three-year effort identified four distinct \u201clineages,\u201d each of which is able to endure wide temperature fluctuations. While the studies suggests the jellies may depend on seasonal temperature changes to complete their lifecycle \u2014 conditions more similar to the Midwest than the subtropical south \u2014 the authors also noted that they\u2019re likely to thrive as overall water temperatures rise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that different populations reacted the same to temperature factors, which means if temperatures increase, you\u2019re probably going to see a similar response in different locations in northern Illinois and Indiana, meaning increases in some of these life cycle stages,\u201d said Rorem. \u201cSince scientists are seeing increases in jellies in marine environments due to increases in water temperature, we\u2019re thinking we\u2019re probably going to see a similar situation with Craspedacusta.\u201d<\/p>\n