Lion’s Mane Jellyfish Cyanea capillata

The Lion’s mane jellyfish is a large species of jelly that tends to vary in color. Larger jellies can range from bright red to dark purple, while smaller ones are typically to tan to orange. This species earned its name from its red and yellow tentacles, which resemble the color of a lion’s mane. Like other jellies, the Lion’s mane jellyfish is capable of asexual reproduction early in life. But when it reaches full maturity, it reproduces sexually. The female jellyfish will carry the fertilized eggs in her tentacles until they become larvae. Zooplankton, such as small fish, other jellies, small shrimp, copepods and rotifers is what this jellyfish eats. Can vary greatly in size, from 0.5 inch in diameter to 8 feet. Its 800-plus tentacles are divided into eight groups and can reach up to 98 feet in length. The largest recorded Lion’s mane jellyfish had tentacles that reached 120 feet long. That makes it one of the longest-known animals in the world! Cold waters of the Arctic, Northern Atlantic, Northern Pacific is where this jellyfish can be found. The population status has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List and is not in danger of extinction. Birds, large fish, other jellies, and sea turtles are the predators of this jellyfish. The lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), also known as hair jelly,[1] is the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans. It is common in the English channel, Irish Sea, North Sea and in western Scandinavian waters south to Kattegat and Øresund. It may also drift in to the south-western part of the Baltic Sea (where it cannot breed due to the low salinity). Similar jellyfish, which may be the same species, are known to inhabit seas near Australia and New Zealand. The largest recorded specimen found, washed up on the shore of Massachusetts Bay in 1870, had a bell (body) with a diameter of 2.3 metres (7 ft 6 in) and tentacles 37 m (120 ft) long. Lion's mane jellyfish have been observed below 42°N latitude for some time—specifically in the larger bays of the east coast of the United States. While the lion's mane jellyfish generally use their stinging tentacles to capture prey, sea anemones can capture their tentacles, which then become tangled, torn apart and consumed. The taxonomy of the Cyanea species is not fully agreed upon; some zoologists have suggested that all species within the genus should be treated as one. Two distinct taxa, however, occur together in at least the eastern North Atlantic, with the blue jellyfish (Cyanea lamarckii Péron & Lesueur, 1810) differing in blue (not red) color and smaller size (10–20 cm diameter, rarely 35 cm). Populations in the western Pacific around Japan are sometimes distinguished as Cyanea nozakii Kisinouye, 1891, or as a race, Cyanea capillata nozakii. Although capable of attaining a bell diameter of over 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), these jellyfish can vary greatly in size; those found in lower latitudes are much smaller than their far northern counterparts with bell about 50 centimetres (20 in) in diameter. The tentacles of larger specimens may trail as long as 30 m (100 ft) or more. These extremely sticky tentacles are grouped into eight clusters, each cluster containing over 100 tentacles, arranged in a series of rows. At 37 m (120 ft) in length, the largest known specimen was longer than a blue whale and is considered one of the longest known animals in the world. This title, however, may be contested: in 1864, a bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus) was found washed up on a Scottish shore that was 55 m (180 ft) long. But because bootlace worms can easily stretch to several times their natural length, it is possible the worm did not actually grow to be that length. The bell is divided into eight lobes. An ostentatiously tangled arrangement of colorful arms emanates from the centre of the bell, much shorter than the silvery, thin tentacles which emanate from the bell's subumbrella. Size also dictates coloration – larger specimens are a vivid crimson to dark purple while smaller specimens grade to a lighter orange or tan. These jellyfish are named for their showy, trailing tentacles reminiscent of a lion's mane. As coldwater species, this jellyfish cannot cope with warmer waters. The jellyfish are pelagic for most of their lives but tend to settle in shallow, sheltered bays towards the end of their one-year lifespan. In the open ocean, lion's mane jellyfish act as floating oases for certain species, such as shrimp, medusafish, butterfish, harvestfish, and juvenile prowfish, providing both a reliable source of food and protection from predators. Predators of the lion's mane jellyfish include seabirds, larger fish such as Ocean sunfish, other jellyfish species, and sea turtles. The Leatherback sea turtle feeds almost exclusively on them in large quantities during the summer season around Eastern Canada. The jellyfish themselves feed mostly on zooplankton, small fish, ctenophores, and moon jellies. Lion's mane jellyfish remain mostly very near the surface at no more than 20 m depth, their slow pulsations weakly driving them forwards; they depend on ocean currents whereby they travel great distances. The jellyfish are most often spotted during the late summer and autumn, when they have grown to a large size and the currents begin to sweep them closer to shore. Like other jellyfish, Lions manes are capable of both sexual reproduction in the medusa stage and asexual reproduction in the polyp stage. Lion's mane jellyfish have four different stages in their year-long life span: a larval stage, a polyp stage, an ephyrae stage, and the medusa stage. The female jellyfish carries its fertilized eggs in its tentacle where the eggs grow into larva. When the larva are old enough, the female deposits them on a hard surface where the larva soon grow into polyps. The polyps begin to reproduce asexually, creating stacks of small creatures called ephyraes. The individual ephyraes break off the stacks, where they eventually grow into the medusa stage and become full grown jellyfish. Most encounters cause temporary pain and localized redness. In normal circumstances, and in healthy individuals, their stings are not known to be fatal. Historical remedies have included: vinegar, isopropyl alcohol, and meat tenderizer. However, none of these remedies are proven as first aid for jellyfish stings, and as such none are recommended for any jellyfish sting treatment. However, severe body contact with the lion's mane jellyfish, such as swimming straight through a huge one, may be deadly.On July 21, 2010, around 150 people are thought to have been stung by the remains of a lion's mane jellyfish that had broken up into countless pieces in Rye, New Hampshire, in the United States. Considering the size of the species, it is possible that this mass incident was caused by a single specimen. The lion's mane jellyfish appears in the Sherlock Holmes short story "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" published in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes discovers at the end of the story that the true killer of a school professor who died shortly after going swimming (shouting "the lion's mane" before he succumbed) was actually this jellyfish. Suspicion was originally laid upon the professor's rival in love, until the latter was similarly attacked (he survived, although badly stung). In the context of the story, it is only because the school professor has a weak heart that he succumbs, as is confirmed by the survival of the second victim. On the popular television program QI the show claimed that the longest animal in the world was the lion's mane jellyfish, but this was later corrected - as the longest in the world is actually the bootlace worm.