The XO Directory

The Lion's Mane jellyfish is the worlds largest jellyfish specie. It's bell diameter can grow up to 2.5 meters. The largest recorded specimen had a bell (body) with a diameter of 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) and the tentacles reached 36.5 m (120 feet). It was found washed up on the shore of Massachusetts Bay in 1870. It lives mainly in cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans.

A common species, the lion's mane jellyfish is well known to divers for its painful, but seldom fatal stings; they are toxic and can cause severe burns. Most encounters cause only temporary pain and localized redness.

Although capable of attaining a bell diameter of 2.5 m (8 feet), these jellyfish are highly variable in size; those found in lower latitudes are much smaller than their far northern counterparts with bells about 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter. The tentacles of larger specimens may trail as long as 30 m (100 feet) or more. These extremely sticky tentacles are grouped into eight clusters, each cluster containing 65-150 tentacles, arranged in a series of rows.

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