Heat waves in recent days have led to an increase in animal migrants in Upper Austria. It’s not always pleasant, but it’s not dangerous either.
Leisure swimmers and “water rats” take note: in the Upper Austrian ponds and lakes it can happen that a freshwater jellyfish swims towards you. The small but hardly pleasant animals – they are about the size of a one euro coin – have already been observed in the bathing lake Feldkirchner, in the Danube in the harbor basin of Linz, in Pleschinger See, in the Baggersee Alcove, in the old arm of the Danube at Aschach, in the swimming pond in Saxen and in the Resilacke in the Mühlviertel.
Heat waves as “midwife”
The heat waves really “jelly” the local waters. Because the freshwater jellyfish develops best at water temperatures of plus 25 degrees. The larvae remain in cooler waters without fully maturing and waiting for optimal conditions.
Up to 400 tentacles
The animals have so-called stinging capsules on their up to 400 tentacles, which paralyze insect larvae or water fleas. However, they cannot damage human skin, as aquatic ecologist Gustav Schay of the state’s Ministry of Ground and Drinking Water Management assures: “The stinging nettle poison is completely harmless to humans.” However, if the medusae appear in swarms, it becomes uncomfortable. “In masses, the jellyfish often cause panic in swimmers,” Schay says.
First sighting of the year 1979
The first specimen of “Craspedacusta sowerbii”, as it is called in Latin, was discovered in 1979 in Upper Austria in the bathing lake Feldkirchen. About 100 years earlier, the jellyfish had been introduced to Europe from Brazil.
Karoline Gantner, Kronen Zeitung
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
