JU grad student discusses ‘sea butterfly’ invasion in First Coast News report

Needle-like creatures that have washed ashore in the Jacksonville Beach area in recent weeks are swimming snails known as “sea butterflies,” JU marine science graduate student Madelyn Woods said in a Thursday, Aug. 29 report on Jacksonville’s First Coast News (WTLV NBC-12 and WJXX ABC-25).

“I’m so excited,” Woods said in the report. “These are my favorite marine organism.”

Woods says the presence of the mollusks, which are pteropods, is unusual off Northeast Florida. Dr. Quinton White, JU’s Marine Science Research Institute executive director, also was interviewed for the report.

Click here to read the First Coast News article.

Here is the video report: