News 12 New Jersey's Tony Caputo saw thousands of spotted lanternflies Tuesday in Belmar. Have you seen them at the Jersey Shore?

“Yesterday I had friends who were in Bradley Beach,” says Peter Vicinio, of Jackson. “Bradley looked bad. They were all over at a distance, they look like muscles, but you get close up and you know it’s the bugs - the lantern flies.”

They’re invasive and have the potential to greatly impact agricultural crops. No matter how pretty they look, residents are advised to stomp them out. On Tuesday, they invaded beaches up and down the Jersey coast.  

They weren’t just in the sand, but also floating on the ocean waves -- from as far south as Wildwood up to Atlantic Highlands, according to a local fisherman. 

“Yesterday it was pretty dense,” says Belmar Business Administrator Ed Kirschenbaum. “Today, it was a lot lighter, so we’re hoping it was just a one-time thing and we’ll do what we have to do if they come back again.”

Some believe a west wind brought the thousands of spotted lanternflies to the coast.