Assateague Island National Seashore is reporting “a lot of weird little blobs of clear jelly washing up on the beach this week; we’re talking THOUSANDS of these things.” writes AINS’s Barry Johnson They look like small jellyfish, but they’re not and don’t sting.

Thousands of salp (tunicatesea squirt) have been washing up on oceanside beaches. Barry Johnson with Assateague Island National Seashore says they they are not jellyfish and don’t sting. (Photo courtesy Assateague Island National Seashore)

Sea nettle is a stinging jellyfish found in the Chesapeake Bay. They show up when the water gets salty and about 68 degrees. (Photo courtesy NOAA)
Sea nettles live in the Chesapeake Bay year round, but they’re in a different shape during winter, spring and early summer and you don’t recognize them or can’t see them. In late summer through early fall, they’ve gotten their bell-shaped top and hair-like tentacles. That’s when they move into the main Bay waters to reproduce. The Bay Journal explains sea nettles it in more detail.

This is the chrysaora quinquecirrha (Cry’-sore-ah kwin-kah-sehr’-ah), the most common sea nettle found in the Chesapeake Bay. They tend to be white in the middle Bay and have red/maroon markings in the southern Bay. And, like many of us, they prefer warm water temps, 78-86 degrees. (Photo courtesy Virginia Institute of Marine Science)
The sting hurts, but is not dangerous for most people. Jelly fish recommendations: just avoid them.

National Weather Service map of typical sea nettle occurrence in the Chesapeake Bay this time of year. Red is bad. Blue is good. They hang out where the water stays salty and the tide is slower, mainly the tributaries of the middle Bay.
Despite all the hassle, we do kinda want them around. Our Chesapeake Bay sea nettles eat comb jellies. Comb jellies eat fish and oyster larvae. So if we want our summer rockfish and winter oysters, we need to put up with our sea nettles.