DAYTONA BEACH — Lifeguards are going through a lot of bottles of vinegar — and an entire pallet could be cleared off by the time the shore gets rid of its jellyfish problem.
Blooms of the gelatinous marine animals have lingered up and down the Volusia County beaches, so lifeguards have been digging into their hefty stock of the all-purpose, acetic acid-based liquid that is the go-to remedy for stings.
Since June 9, roughly 3,000 jellyfish stings have been reported to Volusia's Beach Safety Ocean Rescue and that number is expected to increase for as long as the winds stay calm and the tide doesn't pull the invertebrates into deeper water.
"Jellyfish ... are almost completely dictated by the environment that they're in," said Capt. Mike Berard, a Beach Safety spokesman.
"If we have a lack of lateral current or we have no storm surge or anything, they're just going to kind of float to shore," he continued. "That's why we're seeing a lot of them come into the beach area and swimmers getting stung."
On Wednesday, most beachgoers were undeterred in spite of the latest news of the jellyfish stings.
"I'm from Florida, so I'm not all that afraid of jellyfish," said Ricardo Leon, 20, of Orlando. "I'll be out there. As long as it's not the box jellyfish, I'm good."
Bo Skilakar, who is from Sweden, said the warm ocean water was too alluring for him to pass up, in spite of the abundance of jellyfish.
"There's always risk when you go into the ocean," he said. "Swimming wins over the risk."
Parents who were aware of the jellyfish were keeping a watchful eye of their children.
"Yeah, I'm keeping out of the water," said Nicole Borrow, 32, of Lake Mary, who brought her four children to the beach. She still remembered being stung on the hand by a jellyfish as a girl and doesn't want to relive it.
Her children were allowed to splash around in the water, but she set one major ground rule — they were not allowed to drift more than 15 feet away from her.
Mother Nature will decide when to dispose of the jellyfish. Some kind of "loop current" formation could force them away from shore or they could linger for a while — perhaps for the remainder of the summer, said Keith Bayha, a biological scientist and jellyfish expert who works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Beach Safety told has identified the current stinging species is the moon jellyfish, but Bayha said it is more likely that the jellyfish showing up in large numbers is actually the sea nettle, or Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Moon jellyfish have a very mild sting and are more prevalent in the fall, Bayha said. Sea nettles, which are found off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, are the more likely culprit, according to him and other scientists he consulted with Wednesday.
"It does pack a pretty bad sting," Bayha said of the sea nettle. "It's not unbearable like those (species) off the coast Australia where it's potentially life threatening, but it's pretty uncomfortable."
Moon jellyfish also have a "four-circle" marking on them, which wasn't visible on the jellyfish that washed ashore last week and was photographed by Beach Safety, he said.
Bayha's colleague at the Smithsonian, Allen Collins, said jellyfish are "episodic" creatures who can have large populations one season and then disappear for extended periods of time.
"They're very unpredictable," he said. "It's almost like trying to predict the weather or explain the weather."
Collins pointed out that while jellyfish are considered nuisances, they do provide benefits to the environment. They serve as a food source for other organisms, including sea turtles, and also protect smaller fish, which swim close to their tentacles so they don't get eaten by predators, he said.
If the ocean doesn't pull them out to sea, the jellyfish themselves are going to disappear on their own by the fall. They tend to hang around only for a season. They breed at the start of the summer and die by the end of it, Bayha said.
Last year, Trader Joe's donated two pallets of vinegar to Beach Safety and while the latest spate of stings has put a dent in the supply, there is no danger of lifeguards running out, Berard said. There may even been enough to last through next summer.
"We still could make enough Greek salads to feed the planet," Berard said.
What to do for a jellyfish sting:
Exit the water and flag down a lifeguard truck or go to a staffed tower.
A lifeguard will rinse the affected area of the skin with vinegar, which is a common treatment.
Do not rub the area, which can make it worse.
Do not use meat tenderizer, urine, alcohol or ammonia.
Soaking the skin in hot water after the use of vinegar also helps.
If symptoms persist after an hour or so, seek medical attention.
While jellyfish stings are painful, most are not life threatening.