Cristina Hodgson
EXPERTS foresee a higher concentration of jellyfish on the Costa del Sol this summer due to the currents of the Alboran Sea and a series of other conditions, such as the sea temperature.
That said, so far this bathing season only a handful of the gelatinous marine species have ended up dragged to the shoreline by the currents.
The alarming numbers registered last year, however, took place during July and August and experts warn that this year a jellyfish invasion to the Costa del Sol is more than possible.
According to Juan Antonio Lopez, biologist of the Aula del Mar, the wind last summer was mainly the levante, which can produce gusts of 20-40 knots (10-20 m/s) blowing in an easterly direction from the Mediterranean, and this caused the jellyfish which were in the sea off the coast to end up much closer to the shore.
Lopez has forecast that this summer the winds will be of a similar pattern to last summer, suggesting that the currents of the Alboran Sea and conditions such as the sea temperature will once again favour a high presence of jellyfish in the area, in particular to the coast of Granada and Malaga.
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