Science is Fun Fridays!

 

The Giant Jellyfish - The Lion's Mane - Arctic Red - Hair Jelly

It is one of the largest known species of jellyfish, attaining a bell diameter over 6 feet.  The bell is divided into eight lobes, and each lobe contains 70-150 tentacles arranged in four rows.  Their sting is painful, but not poisonous, although some people could have a severe allergic reaction.

Along the bell margin is a balance organ, called the rhopalium, which helps the jellyfish orient itself.

They reside in the cold waters of the northern oceans as well as the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, and western Scandinavian waters.  It may drift into the Baltic Sea but it cannot breed there due to low salinity.

Their life cycle is just a year long.  The female carries her eggs in a tentacle where they grow into larvae.  She then deposits them on a hard surface where they grow into polyps.  These reproduce asexually, creating small creatures known as ephyrae.  Individuals break off and grow into the medusa stage, where they become full-grown adult jellyfish.