They were so thick on the beaches of South Padre Island that one person described them as stepping stones. Squishy stepping stones. They were moon jellyfish, and a confluence of perfect conditions caused them to wash ashore by the thousands over the weekend.
For charter captain Michael Rasco, it was one of the largest gatherings of the mostly harmless jellies, whose scientific name is Aurelia aurita, he’d seen in his nearly two decades of leading anglers out onto the water.
“You could take a walk across the whole beach without hitting sand,” Rasco told MySA on Monday, October 20. “You walk the shoreline, and all you’re stepping on is jellyfish.”
Anyone who ventured into the water quickly discovered there were far more of the translucent jellies floating about there. The invasion of the moon jellies started about six weeks ago further up the Texas coast, according to Jace Tunnell, director of community engagement for the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi…