Hurricane Sally’s storm surge scatters dozens of jellyfish across Ocean Springs beach
Hurricane Sally may have shifted east of Mississippi, but the storm brought rain, flooding and storm surge to beaches across the Coast.
As locals watched the waves from the Chester McPhearson Jr. pier in Ocean Springs, they also had to dodge dozens of jellyfish washed up on Front Beach.
“The strong surge pushed water toward land and it brought them in and got mixed with river water and rain,” said Moby Solangi, executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport. “Jellyfish are in big groups and Sally’s storm surge brought them in. There were changes in oxygen level and salinity. All of that quickly does them in.”
Solangi said that jellyfish are seen outside and around the barrier islands but are used to much higher salinity. With the surge bringing them toward shore and the fresh water mixing in the water, the jellyfish could not survive.
It’s not uncommon for animals to be beached or stranded when a hurricane comes through the Gulf towards the Coast, Solangi said. He said other animals could wash ashore later.
After Cristobal in June, the storm’s flooding stranded hundreds of clapper rail birds on the Mississippi Coast in the peak of nesting season. It also brought in nutria and marsh grass from Louisiana marshes with the debris.
Solangi said it’s important to remember that hurricanes do not just impact the area of landfall. Storms also impact aquatic environments as they make their way to land.
“There is a hurricane on land and a hurricane in the water,” he said. “It’s not only turmoil on land, it causes turmoil underwater.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 10:17 PM.