{"id":371121,"date":"2026-07-13T13:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:53:18","slug":"invasive-jellyfish-washing-up-on-texas-coast-poses-threat-to-local-marine-ecosystems-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371121\/","title":{"rendered":"Invasive jellyfish washing up on Texas coast poses threat to local marine ecosystems \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Australian<\/p>\n

Provided by Jace Tunnell<\/p>\n

Jace Tunnell, with the Harte Research Institute, holds an Australian white-spotted jellyfish.<\/p>\n

An invasive jellyfish is washing up along the Texas coastline and, according to researchers, while their sting doesn’t pack a big punch, they can hurt local ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Jace Tunnell, the director of community engagement at the Harte Research Institute<\/a>, said he’s spotted a dozen Australian white-spotted jellyfish scattered along the Gulf Coast shoreline over the past two weeks while doing beach surveys.<\/p>\n

Tunnell said the jellyfish are distinct due to the bright white spots on their bells and broccoli-like arms. And while some of the jellyfish can be the size of a hand, he recently saw one that had a bell that stretched to about 14 inches.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

“The coolest thing about it is it can be different colors,” Tunnell said. “They can have a beautiful blue tint to them. They can also be brown in color or clear. I\u2019ve seen all those varieties just this week.”<\/p>\n

Research shows<\/a> the jellyfish is considered invasive because it preys on native species, like plankton, creating competition with other organisms that feed on plankton. They can also negatively impact the shrimp industry by clogging nets and damaging fishing equipment.<\/p>\n

According to the United States Geological Survey,<\/a> the presence of the Australian spotted jellyfish in the northern Gulf “had a direct economic impact on the shrimp fishery.” <\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Provided by Jace Tunnell<\/p>\n

An Australian white-spotted jellyfish sits on the Texas coast.<\/p>\n

According to Tunnell, the jellyfish like warmer weather, so they’re more likely to be found during the summer months. But they’re technically not supposed to be in Gulf waters, he said.<\/p>\n

“They’re supposed to be found in the Western Pacific but through ballast, which is water that ships take in to be able to balance their ships. [The jellyfish get] sucked in with the water, probably in the Pacific, and then they get all the way over here to the Gulf and then they release the water,” Tunnell said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Galveston researchers discovered a new \u2018moon\u2019 jellyfish species in the Gulf<\/a><\/p>\n

Tunnell said because of the way the ocean currents work, the baby jellyfish were able to get into Gulf waterways and start growing. <\/p>\n

“That happened in the early 2000s when they were first reported over here,” Tunnell said. “Now that they\u2019re here, they\u2019re probably not going anywhere.”<\/p>\n

While Tunnell surveys beaches southwest of Galveston, he said he thinks the jellyfish are present on the island as well. <\/p>\n

“They’re showing up up and down the coast because of the way our ocean currents work,” Tunnell said, “it\u2019s absolutely possible that they\u2019d be washing up in Galveston.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: \u2018Definitely don\u2019t touch it\u2019: Rare blue dragons spotted on Texas coast pack a strong punch<\/a><\/p>\n

Tunnell said while the sting of the Australian spotted jellyfish is mild, it’s best to play it safe when it comes to touching them.<\/p>\n

“If you\u2019re not 100% sure, just take photos, look at it and then just leave it alone,” Tunnell said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Provided by Jace Tunnell Jace Tunnell, with the Harte Research Institute, holds an Australian white-spotted jellyfish. An invasive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[244,131464,2327,7216,15394,12272,4708,38121,127374,66,223,27,45498,29,28],"class_list":["post-371121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-animals","tag-australian-white-spotted-jellyfish","tag-environment","tag-galveston","tag-galveston-island","tag-gulf-coast","tag-harte-research-institute","tag-invasive-species","tag-jellyfish","tag-local","tag-news","tag-texas","tag-texas-coast","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}