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5-foot-wide jellyfish washes ashore on Maine beach
This jellyfish was large even for a lion’s mane jellyfish, which usually grow to about 1.5 feet long, according to researchers.
Visitors at a Maine beach spotted a nearly five-foot-wide jellyfish after it washed ashore over the weekend.
The lion’s mane jellyfish washed up at Willard Beach in South Portland, capturing the attention of beachgoers. City officials warned visitors on Facebook not to touch jellyfish and to notify lifeguards to help ones that was up back into the water.
Lion’s mane jellyfish are one of the largest species worldwide, but this one was large even for a lion’s mane. The average lion’s mane jellyfish is 1.5 feet long, but they can grow up to 6.5 feet long, not including their tentacles, according to Oceana.
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It turns out these jellyfish actually thrive in areas with human activity, but make no mistake: they’re not to be messed with. They have up to 1,200 tentacles, which can deliver powerful and painful stings to unsuspecting humans even if they’re no longer attached to the jellyfish.
If you’re too fascinated just to watch, you can take pictures and document any jellyfish sightings for forecasts at organizations like the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
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