Huge Mystery Jellyfish Washes Ashore

Found by a family combing a beach in Tasmania, the giant invertebrate is new to science.

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

The Lim children inspect the giant jelly on a Tasmanian beach.AFP/JOSIE LIMThe Lim family was out for a stroll on a beach in Howden in the Australian state of Tasmania last month when they stumbled across a massive jellyfish that had been washed ashore and measured about 1.5 meters in diameter. The Lims took a photo of the beast and sent it to the country’s federal science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It turns out that the creature they found was so new to science that it hadn’t yet been named.

Lisa-ann Gershwin, a CSIRO biologist, had been hearing stories of the jellyfish, likely a new species of lion’s mane jellyfish, for years, but had never seen proof of their impressive bulk. "It boggles the mind. I mean, it's so big,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I knew that the species gets fairly large, but I didn't know that it gets that large. It was really a surprise to me when they forwarded the photo to me."

Gershwin said that she’d received reports of large, white-ish jellyfish with pink coloration in their centers in the waters around Tasmania lately, and had recently collected a sample of the species, one of three new lion’s mane jellyfish she’s found. She added that she’ll be submitting a paper ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Bob Grant

    From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide