What a catch: Oskaloosa teen finds jellyfish in southern Iowa lake

By Kelby Wingert

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    NEW SHARON, Iowa (KCCI) — An Iowa teen made an extremely rare find recently.

Oskaloosa High School freshman Oscar Schiferl was fishing for bass at Russell Wildlife Area over the weekend when he found something else instead — a group of freshwater jellyfish.

“I was fishing in between a tree that fell to see if I could catch a bass,” Schiferl said. “I saw the jellyfish swimming in the water, and my dad didn’t believe me at first, so I caught one to show him. He was like, ‘That’s actually a jellyfish.’”

Schiferl says he caught about 20 jellyfish, but his dad only let him keep two. He took them to school to share it with his science teacher. The Oskaloosa Community School District shared some video of the jellyfish with KCCI. Watch in the video player above.

According to the National Park Service, the peach blossom jellyfish is the only known species of freshwater jellyfish, is native to the Yangtze River in China and have been observed in North America since the early 1900s. The jellies are about the size of a quarter and harmless to humans.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says this is the second confirmed sighting this week. A jellyfish was found at a pond near Lake Panorama in Guthrie County.

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