Swarms of black jellyfish -- many of them already dead after smashing into the rough surf and rocks, but still able to inflict their stinging misery on human flesh -- washed up on Thousand Steps, Table Rock, and other beaches in South Laguna over the long holiday weekend.
According to a report in the Orange County Register, the stinging jellies sent people screaming from the water in sheer terror. Well, wouldn't you? Of course you would -- their tentacles can have as much as a 30-foot reach.
From the Register's story:
For Daniel Maczionsek, 16, visiting from Berlin, Germany, the large clumps in the water and people's screaming was something right out of Hollywood. The avid swimmer had never seen them before. When people began screaming, Maczionsek, was among other teens who used boogie boards to haul out large pieces of jellies from the spiraling waves.
"I was a little unnerved in the water," he said. "I didn't know how many were out there and how it would feel to be stung. At first I thought 'They're just animals out there' and I didn't take it that serious."
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Jellies were also spotted at Diver's Cove and Rockpile, according to the Reg.
The black jellies are a new species of holy stinging terror, having only been properly ID'd by marine biologists in 1999. It's believed they showed up in town not to hunt down local hotspots they saw on reruns of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, but because they were following tastier-than-human food sources like plankton when they got caught up in the tides and crashing currents, sending them into our rocky SoLag shore.
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