Expert warns of more stingers
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An expert is warning there could be huge blooms of the potentially deadly irukandji jellyfish this summer. (AFP)
An irukandji expert is warning there could be huge blooms of the potentially deadly jellyfish along Queensland's coast this summer.
Dr Lisa-Anne Gershwin from the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Service has been studying the conditions that led to blooms of jellyfish in the Northern Hemisphere.
She says the blooms of dangerous and harmless jellyfish caused several deaths and created economic and ecological damage.
Dr Gershwin says the conditions off the Queensland coast are similar to those in the Northern Hemisphere.
"Jellyfish respond really well to any environmental perturbation," she said.
"You over-fish something a little bit, jellyfish love it.
"Pollution, temperature changes, salinity changes, any sort of changes in top predators, jellyfish can actually move into that niche opening and do really well."
