Coming soon to a beach near you... monster 100ft jellyfish?
THEY are giants of the ocean and love nothing better than the cold waters of the North Sea.
Now, just in time for the British beach season, growing numbers of the enormous lion’s mane jellyfish have been spotted off the coast of Scotland.
The creatures have tentacles that can grow to as long as 100ft which can deliver a nasty sting, and are often mistaken for seaweed.
An increasing number of the monster jellyfish have been spotted close to Scotland’s beaches and in sea lochs as their season peaks between now and the end of August.
This season they have been spotted in the seas around the Hebrides, the Firth of Forth, Ayr beach, Dunoon in Argyll and Inverkip in Renfrewshire.
Last month 11-year-old Abbie Mcintosh had to be taken to hospital after being stung on the feet, legs and wrist by a lion’s mane jellyfish in Pettycur Bay in Fife.
David Donnan, marine sustainability manager at NatureScot, said: ‘The lion’s mane jellyfish is probably the one that has the most capacity to sting.
‘Jellyfish numbers can fluctuate quite dramatically and can be different from year to year, and even within a year from place to place.
‘There’s a variety of factors that probably influence that.
‘There are some places in the world where jellyfish have been becoming more abundant on a sustained basis but that’s probably not the case for us at the moment in Scottish waters.
‘There’s no one factor that can explain the variability and abundance but, for example, if we had a sustained period of wind from the west then in particular the sea lochs can see quite high numbers building up.’
Despite a number of more serious attacks, Mr Donnan said that for most swimmers a sting from a jellyfish is no more serious than one from a nettle.
The biggest jellyfish ever recorded had a 7ft 6in diameter and 120ft long tentacles. The lion’s mane jellyfish washed up in the
US state of Massachusetts in 1965 – and its tentacles were longer than the biggest blue whale that has ever been found.
Lion’s mane jellyfish get their name from the long, flowing tentacles which surround their translucent brown body.
While most people who come into contact with them just suffer a nasty sting, there are cases where it can be more serious.
Last year, wild swimmer Libby Bligh was left fighting for her life after her hand brushed against a lion’s mane jellyfish in the sea near Nairn.
She struggled to breathe after going into anaphylactic shock caused by a previously unknown allergy to the creature’s sting.
Miss Bligh credits her friend Agnes for driving her to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, in time for medics to give her drugs which saved her life.
‘The most capacity to sting’