This past weekend, beachgoers from Florida's Volusia County suffered from a collective 406 jellyfish stings.

According to The Associated Press, the number was reported by Volusia County's Beach Safety Ocean Rescue.

Capt. Tammy Marris said that purple flags were dispersed around the beach to warn people about the threat. Still, beachgoers were harmed as Capt. Marris told The Daytona Beach News-Journal most of the stings took place in the area of New Smyrna Beach.

The newspaper reports that 257 of the 406 stings happened on Saturday, with 149 more stings following on Sunday. On Sunday, lifeguards conducted 14 difference ocean rescues.

"They were all over and all in multiple sizes," Michelle Craycraft, who was at the beach during the weekend, told WFTV.

Winne Kuna, who was visiting Florida's beachs scene from Pittsburgh, said she and her daughter entered a swarm of the jellyfish.

"She got stung, and like, 12 welts popped up across her leg," Kuna said. "We were all out of there real quick."

The jellyfish reportedly looked different than the jellyfish Floridians are used to seeing. Officials have to yet to figure out which species of jellyfish was responsible for the hundreds of stings.

"I didn't know what it was," Craycraft said, detailing her youngest grandchild holding one of the jellyfish in his hand (none of her three grandchildren were stung that day). "I started looking at it, and it was just really bizarre looking. Then it started to move."

"They're clear except for one little spot of color in the middle," Capt. Ray Manchester of Beach Safety said.

More jellyfish could be on the way, as Beach Safety officials predict "some big surf" to come from Tropical Storm Cristobal, which could bring more of the creatures to the beach shore, according to WFTV.

"They have some vinegar that they can put on there, which helps get through the pain a little faster," Manchester said.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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