Gelatinous creatures with ‘bite of a lion’ wash up on beach in Ireland, officials say
Stranded on the wet sand of the beach in southern Ireland sat a reddish pink gelatinous sea creature. Dead or alive, as long as it sat in the sand, the doomed animal posed a danger to beachgoers.
The gelatinous sea creatures were spotted on beaches in County Cork and identified as lion’s mane jellyfish, the Irish news outlet CorkBeo reported.
Lion’s mane jellyfish are “one of the largest jelly species in the world,” according to Oceana. Their bodies can reach 6.5 feet in size while their tentacles can stretch up to 120 feet.
The jellyfish got its name from its tentacles, which appear to form a “mane” and deliver the “bite of a lion,” according to The Wildlife Trusts. These tentacles pack a “very nasty sting” — “even if they’re no longer attached to the jellyfish.”
“The lion’s mane is known as the most dangerous jellyfish that can appear in Irish waters,” CorkBeo reported.
The animal’s sting is “not usually” fatal but can cause “nausea, sweating, cramps, headaches and other symptoms,” the Irish Examiner reported.
Because of the danger the animals pose, sightings of lion’s mane jellyfish prompted a beach closure on July 3, the Cork County Council Beachguards said.
These jellyfish “are normally found in the northern half of Ireland,” the Big Jellyfish Hunt, a wildlife group from University College Cork dedicated to the animal, said. County Cork is along a harbor on the southern coast, about 160 miles southwest of Dublin.
“Recently we have had many reports of lion’s mane in County Cork,” wildlife experts said. “It is very unusual to see so many lion’s mane jellyfish stranding in Cork and sometimes up to 10 observed together at sea.”
The Big Jellyfish Hunt suggested that the recent lion’s mane jellyfish sightings are occurring because the animals “were swept out of their normal home range” in Dublin Bay as babies.
Beachgoers were encouraged to report sightings of the sea creature, wildlife experts said.
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