Do the jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake sting you?

Contrary to popular belief, these jellyfish DO have stinging cells used to capture tiny organisms (zooplankton) for food. They inherited the stinging cells from their lagoon ancestor Mastigias papua. However, you are unlikely to feel it as the sting is very mild and essentially harmless to humans.



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Contrary to tourist myth, the jellyfish are not “non-stinging”; rather, the lack of natural predators in this marine lake (inside an island, inside an ocean) has led them to evolve away from having very strong stinging cells, so that most of us can glide through the water, bumping into the floating, dancing clear blobs ...

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Though swimming is permitted, scuba diving is highly prohibited as the bottom layer of the lake hosts a poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas that even the lake's jellyfish don't swim near.

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Besides the fact that exhaust bubbles could harm the jellyfish, the deeper anoxic layer of the lake contains hydrogen sulfide, which is poisonous to humans.

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Talk to lifeguards, local residents or officials with a local health department before swimming or diving in coastal waters, especially in areas where jellyfish are common. Avoid water during jellyfish season. Stay out of the water in jellyfish areas when jellyfish numbers are high.

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All visitors are required to purchase a 10-day Rock Island Permit for 100 USD (50 USD if you access the Rock Islands but not the Jellyfish Lake). Take also into consideration that if you are planning to book a day tour to the Jellyfish Lake expect to pay between 100-250 USD (excluding permit costs).

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