\u26f1 Jellyfish have returned to New Jersey
\u26f1\u00a0Should you pee on a jellyfish sting?
\u26f1\u00a0The best way to treat Jellyfish stings from a leading expert<\/p>\n
As the water warms off the Jersey Shore, jellyfish have returned.<\/p>\n
Experts say their numbers have not been too bad off the coast, but heavy concentrations have been reported in many New Jersey’s back bays.<\/p>\n
Most of the jellyfish that appear in Jersey waters are annoying and their stings can burn, but they are not life threatening.<\/p>\n
However, at least two highly toxic species have been found off our coast.<\/p>\n
They are the Caribbean box jellyfish and the Portuguese man o’ war<\/p>\n
Each of their stings are extremely painful and toxic to the human body. In rare instances their venom can even cause death.<\/p>\n
A jar of Clinging Jellyfish<\/p>\n
Clinging Jellyfish are common off the Jersey Shore and in the back bays. Their sting can be painful, but they are not highly toxic.
(Paul Bologna\/Montclair State University)How to treat a jellyfish sting (It’s not what you think!)<\/p>\n
One of the foremost experts on jellyfish and their stings recently joined me on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning show.<\/p>\n
Dr. Paul Bologna is a Professor of Biology and the Director of the Marine Biology and Coastal Sciences Program at Montclair State University. He says the basic triage of a jellyfish sting is pretty basic, but people often make a critical mistake that can make things much worse and much more painful.<\/p>\n
If you have been stung by any type of jellyfish, the first step is to get it to stop. It was a little frightening to hear from Dr. Bologna, “They can still sting you even if they are dead.”<\/p>\n
The best immediate treatment is white vinegar, so keep some in your beach bag. If you forget, most lifeguards have some in their kit.<\/p>\n
Jellyfish on the beach in Harvey Cedars<\/p>\n
Jellyfish on the beach in Harvey Cedars (Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol)<\/p>\n
The next step is to rise the skin, but this is where many people go wrong.<\/p>\n
Bologna says you need to rinse your skin with ocean water. DO NOT use bottled water.<\/p>\n
“That actually causes the stinging cells to explode,” Bologna warns, which will inject even more venom into your body.<\/p>\n
In most cases, those two steps should be enough.<\/p>\n
If you are still experiencing pain, Bologna recommends applying a heat compress, “We call it denaturing protein. Venoms and toxins are proteins. If you apply heat, it causes them to break apart and it minimizes the stinging potential after you’ve been stung.”<\/p>\n
There are also a few commercially available products that can neutralize jellyfish venom. One, called ‘Sting No More’ was developed by a marine biologist in Hawaii to deal with stings from potentially deadly varieties of jellyfish.<\/p>\n
It will work on any jellyfish sting but isn’t really needed for the most common stings from jellyfish found in Jersey waters.<\/p>\n
Sting No More anti-venom treatment<\/p>\n
Sting No More is product that can neutralize the venom from highly toxic jellyfish.
(Stingnomore.com)Should I pee on a jellyfish sting?<\/p>\n
That old wives tale has been around for as long as anyone can remember. It’s not true.<\/p>\n
Bologna says it may have been started by the belief that urine contains ammonia and that could neutralize the sting.<\/p>\n
Peeing on a jellyfish sting became such a widely accepted treatment, scientific studies were done to test the theory.<\/p>\n
“It actually has the opposite effect,” Bologna says, “Urine is mostly water and will cause the stinging cells to explode.”<\/p>\n
Bottom line: DO NOT pee on a jellyfish sting.<\/p>\n
NJ DOT’s Electronic Sign Safety Messages Summer 2025<\/p>\n
NJ DOT has brought back the huumorus safety messages to its electronic signs all over the state.<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Dan Alexander<\/p>\n
The best international vacation from NJ is Greece<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Kyle Clark<\/p>\n
Report a correction \ud83d\udc48 | \ud83d\udc49 Contact our newsroom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u26f1 Jellyfish have returned to New Jersey\u26f1\u00a0Should you pee on a jellyfish sting?\u26f1\u00a0The best way to treat Jellyfish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[10890,31497,31498,79,10891,201],"class_list":["post-38551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-jersey-news","tag-news-in-new-york","tag-news-in-pennsylvania","tag-science","tag-ultimate-new-jersey","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}