Family spots rare freshwater jellyfish at Freedom Park in Star

[00:00:02]In Idaho's great outdoors, you can expect to run into a variety of creatures. There's big horn sheep, wild horses, cougars, hopefully you're not running into that. Bears, also hopefully you're not running into that, and bald eagles. As for those dwelling in the water, it's mostly limited to fish, salmon, and trout. Maybe on the freakier side, sturgeon jumping into Idaho's exclusively fresh bodies of water. You would not expect to find an animal that's known for its ocean dwellings.

[00:00:31]But about a week ago, a man and his kids discovered just that.

[00:00:37]There are plenty of things you expect to find during a summer day at the pond.

[00:00:41]Birds, ducks, and dogs. Maybe even >> fish and like other thing.

[00:00:50]>> But not this.

[00:00:51]>> At first, I thought it was maybe a feather or something kind of mucousy looking. So I was going to move the girls out of the way and then I saw that it was moving up and down.

[00:00:59]>> Floating through the pond at Freedom Park and Star there was a creature the Brandis family.

[00:01:04]>> You couldn't really see it cuz they were like clear >> only expected to find in an ocean not Idaho.

[00:01:09]>> And I told the girls, grab a bucket and sure enough I was like I think this is a jellyfish. And we scooped it up and and put it in her little sand bucket and it was a jellyfish. And then we started seeing more and more and more.

[00:01:19]>> One jellyfish became two. Once we saw some, we would swim out and grab them and then swim back in and then put them in the bucket.

[00:01:27]>> Then five became 10.

[00:01:29]>> And then it just became a game. We started trying to catch as many as we could and put them in the bucket. And I think we had about 15 or 16 by the time we were done.

[00:01:35]>> Each one was clear.

[00:01:36]>> They're kind of squishy, but they're also slimy.

[00:01:39]>> About the size of a small coin.

[00:01:41]>> They feel weird and I don't like it.

[00:01:45]>> And for a moment, the girls had one very reasonable question. We were kind of scared because we thought that they were going to sting us.

[00:01:52]>> I reached out to Idaho Fishing Game. I said, "Do you guys know anything about this? You know, why they're here? How they got here? Are they harmless? Is it okay for us to be swimming in the water?"

[00:02:00]>> The good news, they may look like their saltwater cousins, but they cannot deliver the same painful surprise.

[00:02:06]>> They said their stingers are too small to sting you.

[00:02:08]>> Yep.

[00:02:09]>> So, >> they said their their stingers are their tentacles are too small that the the stingers can't penetrate human skin.

[00:02:14]>> Yeah.

[00:02:15]>> So, I guess they're essentially harmless.

[00:02:16]>> They're really tiny. Idaho Fishing Game says freshwater jellyfish are rare, but they're not new to Idaho. They've been here for about 30 years. Nobody knows for certain how they move from one body of water to another, but their tiny bodies can have hundreds of tentacles, mostly used to catch very small organisms like plankton.

[00:02:35]>> It was interesting because I've never seen jellyfish in a freshwater lake before.

[00:02:40]>> Unexpected and hard to explain to your friends once summer vacation is over.

[00:02:45]Are you excited to go back to school and tell all your friends that you saw jellyfish this summer?

[00:02:48]>> Yeah.

[00:02:49]>> Are they going to believe you?

[00:02:50]>> Probably not.

[00:02:51]>> Fortunately, they have photos to prove it.

[00:02:54]>> Oh, they're still sleeping.

[00:02:55]>> And they're already excited to find more.

[00:02:58]>> It's it's daytime.

[00:03:00]>> And like I mentioned, these creatures are not new to Idaho. More than 20 years ago, a family had a similar experience.

[00:03:08]That time, it was in the water at Eagle Island State Park. A researcher breaks down how they could multiply in this 208 redial.

[00:03:18]With 100 degree heat outside, kids find it hard to resist the cool waters at Eagle Island State Park. That's where Cindy Cole says her daughter went for a swim Thursday night and scooped up a bit more than she bargained for. Two light colored moving organisms.

[00:03:32]>> I sure thought it looked like a jellyfish.

[00:03:34]>> Hard to believe for people playing at the park. freshwater jellyfish in here.

[00:03:38]>> But water researchers say it's entirely possible.

[00:03:41]>> Well, we've only found them one other time in Idaho, and that was several years ago during another heat wave. And they seem to uh spawn and uh develop into a medusa where they can swim free to breed. And then they can live as a hydra for years before they ever turn into a jellyfish.

[00:03:58]>> Fearing these jellyfish could pack a wallup just like their relatives, the Portuguese man of war, Cole wanted answers. I was kind of concerned only because she said there were a lot of them. I know one sting couldn't hurt anybody, but what happens if you get a lot of them and they're massive?

[00:04:16]>> Finding a large amount of them would be pretty rare. They're very uncommon even when you find them, but uh there's no danger. They just interesting.

[00:04:24]>> In fact, Headley says there could be more freshwater jellyfish floating around in other places, but because they're so clear, nobody ever notices.

[00:04:32]Casey Hawkins and her kids didn't spot any, so she'll keep coming back to Eagle Island. Whatever it takes to stay cool.

[00:04:38]>> Not too worried. We're okay.

[00:04:40]>> Elizabeth Homeman, Idaho's News Channel 7. Well, today Fish and Game told us biologists rarely see freshwater jellyfish. And if they do see them, it's in calm still waters of lakes, ponds, or even reservoirs with little flow. Fish and Game says they are one of a few exotic species that appear not to be harmful to native species or fish. But as a reminder, it is illegal to introduce species to Idaho's waterways.

[00:05:09]And if you see any suspicious activity while at the water or in the wild, be sure to call Fish and Game.