Jellyfish

[crassy]

I live up in the Northern Suburbs and today I went swimming near Quinn's Rocks. There were a metric effload of jellyfish right near the shore. Being Canadian and ignorant of all the different species of things that can kill me here I was wondering if anyone in this community is well versed in types of jellyfish in the area. I have tried googling

Comments

[voyageofdreams]

Did it look like this:

[crassy]

Is that the Australian spotted jellyfish? See, that picture looks close to what we saw but the other ones I saw online look nothing like it. Wikipedia also says they usually only hang out in the southern Pacific so I am very confused. The bottom part was a bit different as well, it was longer but no tentacles if that makes any sense.

[thisisthehabit]

The tentacles seem to get eaten off / broken off a lot. I think many of the ones we see in the Swan may be dead or dying.

[crassy]

I wasn't in the Swan I was in the ocean.

[thisisthehabit]

Whether Swan or ocean, I'd say you're looking at Phyllorhiza punctata. See http://www.google.com.au/images?q=Phyllorhiza+punctata . As for size: http://dockwatch.disl.org/images/big_phyllorhiza.jpg .

They live all along the coast, as well as in major tidal river systems. They can get blown right into shore by the wind or washed in by currents. I've seen huge clumps of them on beaches. They're common and harmless.

We don't seem to get portugese man 'o war much here, thankfully, but they do turn up occasionally. They're horrible and to be avoided if you do see them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War . Other jellyfish found further up north but rarely/never this far down are box jellyfish, which you must never approach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_jellyfish .