Beach users were pleased during the summer about the absence of jellyfish along Costa Tropical. Yesterday, however, things changed; they were surprised.

Yes, along Playa San Cristóbal in Almuñécar banks of jellyfish were washed up, to everybody’s amazement.

A Biologist at the Universidad de Granada, Luis Sánchez Tocino, explained that they are of a type denominated as pelagia noctiluca; i.e., mauve stinger or the “blighters that turn up during the summer,” and that the late autumn, easterly winds had probably pushed them this way.

He also pointed out that it is unusual to see them in December… ya don’t say!

Anyway, they’re not a problem as nobody is swimming in the sea at the moment; that is, until the Swedes get here at Christmas for a festive dip.

The thing is, if these jellyfish do feel the urge to visit, let it be in winter, oh Lord, and not during the summer when Humankind goes amphibian.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)