Jellyfish in the Hawkesbury

In eastern Australia, the ‘blubber’ jellyfish (Catostylus mosaicus) often form spectacular population blooms but they tend to be transient events. However since October 2022, jellyfish have been present in large quantities in the Hawkesbury estuary. Jellyfish are notorious for impacting on recreational activities like swimming but also they disrupt commercial fisheries operations when jellyfish are present in large densities.

In order to better understand the behaviour of jellyfish in the Hawkesbury this project has been created where we seek input from community members regarding location, density and sizes of jellyfish seen between Broken Bay to Windsor. This area includes Pittwater, Brisbane Waters, Cowan Creek, Lower and Upper Hawkesbury estuary.

Please aim to answer most of the questions included in this project once you submit a sighting. We prefer if the photos represent the density of jellyfish seen. You can always submit a second photo of a close up where we can double check identification of the jellyfish species.

We are interested in gaining information about all jellyfish species seen in the Hawkesbury.

Thanks for your help. less ↑