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The lion's mane jellyfish ( Cyanea capillata) is one of the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal ecosystem waters of the Arctic Ocean, northern Atlantic Ocean, and northern . It is common in the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, and in western waters south to Kattegat and Øresund. It may also drift into the southwestern 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 was measured off the coast of Massachusetts in 1865 and had a bell with a diameter of and tentacles around long. Lion's mane jellyfish have been observed below 42°N latitude for some time in the larger bays of the East Coast of the United States.
While most jellyfish have a circular bell, the bell of the Lion's Mane is divided into eight lobes, giving it the look of an eight-point star. Each lobe contains about 70 to 150 tentacles, arranged in four fairly distinct rows. Along the bell margin is a Balance organs at each of the eight indentations between the lobes – the rhopalium – which helps the jellyfish orient itself. From the central mouth extend broad frilly oral arms with many stinging cells called . (2025). 9780295960845, University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295960845 Closer to its mouth, its total number of tentacles is around 1,200.
The long, thin tentacles which emanate from the bell's have been characterised as "extremely sticky"; they also have stinging cells. The tentacles of larger specimens may trail as long as or more, with the tentacles of the longest known specimen measured at in length, although it has been suggested that this specimen may actually have belonged to a different Cyanea species. This unusual length – longer than a blue whale – has earned it the status of one of the longest known animals in the world.
The lion's mane jellyfish uses its stinging tentacles to capture, pull in, and eat prey such as fish, zooplankton, sea creatures, and smaller jellyfish.
Like other jellyfish, lion's 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 lifespan: a larval stage, a polyp stage, an ephyrae stage, and the medusa stage. The female jellyfish carries its fertilized eggs in a tentacle, where the eggs grow into larvae. When the larvae are old enough, the female deposits them on a hard surface, where the larvae soon grow into polyps. The polyps begin to reproduce asexually, creating stacks of small, immature medusae called ephyrae. The individual ephyrae break off from the stacks, where they eventually grow into the mature medusa stage to become full-grown jellyfish.
There may be a significant difference between touching a few tentacles with fingertips at a beach and accidentally swimming into the jellyfish. The initial sensation is more strange than painful and feels like swimming into warmer and somewhat effervescent water. Some minor pain will soon follow. Normally, there is no real danger to humans (with the exception of people suffering from special allergies), but in cases when someone has been stung over large parts of their body not just by the longest tentacles but by the entire jellyfish (including the inner tentacles, of which there are around 1,200), medical attention is recommended as systemic effects can be present. Although rare, severe stings in deep water can also cause panic followed by drowning.
In July 2010, around 150 beachgoers were stung by the remains of a broken-up lion's mane jellyfish along Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, New Hampshire, US. Considering the size of the species, it is believed that this incident was caused by a single specimen.
On the television program QI, the show claimed that the longest animal in the world was the lion's mane jellyfish. This was later corrected – in 1864, a bootlace worm ( Lineus longissimus) was found washed up on the coast of Fife, Great Britain, that was long. However, this claim is disputed, as bootlace worms can easily stretch to several times their natural length, so it is possible the worm did not actually grow to be that length. If that is the case, the lion's mane jellyfish would indeed be the longest animal in the world.Mark Carwardine 1995. The Guinness Book of Animal Records. Guinness Publishing. p. 232.
The creature is referred to as the culprit in the 1926 short story "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.The Complete Sherlock Homes Short Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. published by John Murray. 1928, reprinted October 1966, page 1285
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