TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | DEC 2019 13
LION’S MANE JELLYFISH
Now that the water is colder and the days have gotten shorter, we
are seeing changes in our marine flora and fauna that indicate winter
has arrived along Tybee’s coast. Because of our location in the Carolinian
Province of our western Atlantic biogeographic region, Tybee is an
exceptionally good place to see seasonal changes in the species of animals
and seaweeds that live in our nearshore water. (Seasonal changes and
geographical distributions of marine species have always been one of my
main interests and areas of research.) So with the establishment of winter
environmental conditions here, we will be finding cold water species,
typical of more northern latitudes, that have now extended southward as
far as Tybee Island.
Among these cold water animals are a couple of jellyfish. Last winter
I wrote about one of these, the Mushroom Jelly (Tybee Beachcomber,
January 2018) that is the biggest jellyfish we get along Tybee. So this
winter I want to discuss our other wintertime jelly, the Lion’s Mane Jelly.
You may have seen reports about Lion’s Mane Jellies being huge. They
do indeed grow to be six feet or more in diameter, but these big individuals
occur in the cold, open (pelagic) regions of the Atlantic way north of us.
Around here, pretty much at the southernmost limit of its distribution
range, our Lion’s Mane Jellies are generally four to six inches in diameter.
And that’s just fine with me!
Our Lion’s Mane Jellies usually have some reddish-brown or rustylooking
color to them. The bell portion of its body is flat and circular, with
slightly scalloped edges. It gets its name from the arrangement and size
of its tentacles. The tentacles are grouped in bundles that are arranged
in a circle underneath the bell just inside of the outer edge. This dense
arrangement of fairly short tentacles makes them look like the hairy mane
that encircles the neck of a male lion.
Although the huge, pelagic Lion’s Mane Jellies of the far north can
apparently sting pretty badly, our small Tybee ones don’t sting much at all,
at least to me. For me, their “sting” is more like a slight irritation. When
I’m handling one during our winter Tybee Beach Ecology Trips, I won’t be
feeling anything; not even a tingle. After a few minutes, I might notice a
tingle or a slight itching sensation, usually between my fingers where the
skin is more sensitive. Shortly after that, even the tingling and itching will
disappear. So I don’t fear the Lion’s Manes.
Because they occur here during winter, our encounters with Lion’s Mane
Jellies are usually when we find them washed up on the wet sand as the
tide goes out. They will usually look dead. But often if we place it in a
bucket of seawater, after a while we will notice that it is still alive and
“swimming” or pulsing around in the bucket. So if you see some of them
this winter, don’t fear them. Try seeing if it is still alive and if it will show
you how it swims. And then you can rescue it by turning it back loose in
the ocean!
Dr. Joe Richardson (Ph.D. Marine Sciences) is a retired marine science
professor with 40 years of research and teaching experience along GA, the
southeastern coast and Bahamas. Besides research, he conducts Tybee
Beach Ecology Trips (www.TybeeBeachEcology.com) and frequently posts
pictures of their findings on his Tybee Beach Ecology Trips Facebooks page.
Beach Walks
with Dr. Joe
By Dr. Joe Richardson
/(www.TybeeBeachEcology.com)