Species

Cyanea get their common name from their mass of long, stringy tentacles that resemble the thick mane of a lion. They are most commonly found in the cooler waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans but they also occur in coastal waters around Australia and New Zealand.

Cyanea eat zooplankton, small fish and smaller sea jellies.  Usually less than 50cm diameter, giant individuals exceeding two metres have occasionally been found, making Cyanea the world’s largest sea jelly! Their stings invoke localised pain and redness but they are not usually considered dangerous.  Despite this, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featured Cyanea as the murderer in the Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Adventure of the Lion's Mane’.

For first aid, see Surf Life Saving Queensland fact sheet.