The Migration of Moon Jellyfish into Huntington Harbor

I recently noticed an influx of moon jellyfish entering Huntington Harbor and knew I had to make a post about it. I used my dad’s GoPro to film these amazing little guys up close underwater, and to gather data on their numbers . I edited all of the clips together to make the video down below. The reason they’re entering the harbor, from my research, is just random chance. Every once in a while you’ll se a large number of them in the water and it’s due to the fact that they are drifters. This essentially means that they move with the tide and have no real movement capabilities. When a “smack” of jellyfish is caught by the current coming into the harbor they just drift in with massive quantities and will stay for quite some time before they are eventually all rounded up by the current and brought back out. I’ve also seen a lot of misconceptions about these guys as well, such as them being able to sting or otherwise hurt you in any way. Moon jellyfish are completely incapable of stinging a human. Their stingers aren’t strong enough to be felt by human nerves and I’ve picked them up by their stinging end and have felt nothing. That being said they are not edible and should not be consumed, for any of you adventurous people reading.