12 hours ago
SYDNEY
(Reuters) - Residents of a sleepy hamlet in Tasmania found a previously
unknown kind of giant jellyfish washed up on a beach, prompting
excitement among scientists in Australia as they work to formally name
and classify the creature.
About 1.5 meters (five feet) across, the white jellyfish with a pink
spot in the middle is believed to be a relative of the lion's mane
species popularly known as a "snotty" as it resembles mucus.
"There's the excitement, that it's a new species and then there's the
'Oh my God factor' that it happens to be the size of a Smart car,"
Lisa-ann Gershwin, a scientist at the government's Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, told Reuters. "It's
like Disneyland for marine biologists."
A family walking along the beach found the giant jellyfish in late
January and sent a photo to the research organisation in Hobart,
Australia's southernmost city. Scientists believe the jellyfish was
later washed out to sea.
Gershwin and other scientists are also trying to discover why there has
been an enormous rise in jellyfish populations in the waters around
Tasmania this year.
"There's
something going on that's causing a whole lot of species to bloom in
staggering numbers and we don't know why yet," she said. "It's so thick
with jellyfish that it's like swimming in bubble tea."
(Reporting by Pauline Askin; Editing by John O'Callaghan and Ron Popeski)
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