A suspected sting from a tiny clinging jellyfish left a 6-year-old South Jersey girl suffering in pain for days, prompting experts to warn people heading into coastal waterways to be cautious. Amelia Colvin ran out of the water screaming in pain on Sunday morning after floating in the Metedeconk River outside her family’s home in Brick Township, Ocean County. “High pitched screaming, running out of the water. Just kept screaming, ‘It hurts, it hurts,'” Amelia’s grandmother, Carol O’Neill said. According to her family, a rash on her chest continued to grow larger and the pain persisted for days. The family said Amelia was not eating or sleeping as she dealt with the pain. Urgent care and emergency room doctors provided over-the-counter medications but the pain continued. Dr. Paul Bologna, director of marine biology and coastal sciences at Montclair State University said he is confident a potent sting from a tiny clinging jellyfish was responsible. “The sting is nothing to sneeze at,” Bologna said. Amelia’s mother, Julianne Colvin, said her daughter’s condition has finally started to improve. Although native to the Pacific Ocean, clinging jellyfish have appeared over the past decade from Sandy Hook to Cape May, mostly in back bays and coastal rivers, according to Bologna. The jellyfish are typically found during May and June in shallow water containing algae or eelgrass, but not in the ocean. Bologna recently collected clinging jellyfish from the Metedeconk River. “100% a wake-up call about a jellyfish I didn’t even know existed,” Colvin said. Researchers are also trying to determine whether the region’s harsh winter could affect the reproductive cycle of clinging jellyfish. Bologna said clinging jellyfish deliberately kept in cold laboratory conditions produced significantly more offspring than usual. “Normally we get about 50 to 100 little jellies generated across the winter. This year we had well over a thousand,” Bologna said. “It might suggest that we’re going to have a really bad clinging jelly season this year, but we need to monitor.” He said collecting additional clinging jellyfish samples could help researchers better understand the species and any potential population changes this year. Meanwhile, Amelia’s family hopes sharing her experience will help raise awareness. “It’s a warning for other parents with young children that the pain of this kind of jellyfish sting impacts a tiny body,” Colvin said. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less