Jellyfish invasion

Cannon ball jellyfish washed up on Panama City Beach

Cannon ball jellyfish like this one washed up on Panama City Beach have invaded the coastal waters of Panama City Beach and the estuary around St Andrews State Park.

Joyce took this picture while walking along the beach in St Andrews State Park on Panama City Beach.

Stranded cannon ball jellyfish on beach in St Andrews State Park

As you can see in this picture the beach is littered with cannon ball jellyfish that have been washed up and stranded with the tide.

Cannon ball jellyfish stranded in shallow water

Look closely at this cannon ball jellyfish. It has two distinct parts the "umbrella-like" head and the body.

Asians eat these jellyfish. They are a delicacy for bot the Japanese and Chinese.

There is a "jellyfish" industry along the coast of the United States that supplies processed jellyfish to the Asian market.

Cannon ball jellyfish washed up on Panama City Beach

You can see the distinct parts of this cannon ball jelly fish. The umbrella head and the body.

In order to prepare these jellyfish to eat the umbrella is separated from the body. Then the gonads and guts are stripped out and discarded. The umbrella and body are then heavily coated with a mixture of salt and alum. The salt and alum draws the water out of the jellyfish. Actually, after letting the jellyfish sit for a day in the salt brine the process is repeated. Yes, the jellyfish is coated with another layer of salt and alum then stacked and allowed to rest. According to what I read this process is repeated up to 6-times before all the water and liquid is removed from the jellyfish. At this point the jellyfish is preserved. I suspect it is preserved much like beef jerkey is preserved.

It is this preserved product that is exported to Asia.

Cannon ball jellyfish in shallow waters of St Andrews State Park

Cannon ball jellyfish are unique colorful creatures to see when you are shelling or beachcombing on Panama City Beach.

We tend to do most of our beachcombing in St Andrews State Park located on the east end of Panama City Beach.

If you want to know more about shelling and beachcombing in St Andrews State Park on Panama City Beach you might like some of these pages:

Stranded cannon ball jellyfish on beach in St Andrews State Park

These cannon ball jellyfish were deposited by the high tide last night.

Joyce took this picture along the beach in St Andrews State Park.

To get to this location in St Andrews State Park we park in the boat ramp parking lot on the Grand Lagoon side of St Andrews State Park.

We start our walk along the beach from that spot. We generally walk to the water right there at the boat ramp then walk along the shore line to the east. Everything changes as we walk east along the shores of Grand Lagoon. We start in an estuary and quickly transition to the beach you see in this picture.

You can see more of the things we see when shelling and beach combing along that beach in these pages:

Cannon ball jellyfish washed up on Panama City Beach

This cannon ball jellyfish was washed up on the beach by the last high tide. Some of the jellies have a colorful brown to purple ring around the outside of their umbrella.

Click on one of these links for more about cannon ball jellyfish and the jellyfish industry:

Eating cannon ball Jellyfish

Cannon ball jellyfish industry

Panama City Beach and St Andrews State Park

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