Giant Deep Sea Jellyfish Filmed in Gulf of Mexico

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8638000/8638527.stm ^ | 4/23/2010 | Jody Bourton

[nickcarraway]

Video at link

"I'm ready for my closeup"

[JoeProBono]

[SouthTexas]

Great, our southern border is wide open and now we are being attacked from the sea.

[chris37]

Holy moly! Got to love jellies. I can’t wait to get my first sting of the season at Navarre Beach! Apparently the storms that just passed have blown the Man-o-wars to shore according to beach reports today.

As far as this giant jelly goes...if I run into this character at the beach, I’m giving up.

[scoobysnak71]

>"Great, our southern border is wide open and now we are being attacked from the sea."

Hey, I'm eating them as fast as I can!

[tubebender]

Not to worry ST, it appears to be coated in crude oil. Did you notice the 5 dollar words in that story?

[SouthTexas]

If I find them, I’ll be sure and send them your way. :)

[SouthTexas]

LOL, like everyone knows their scientific name.

[dfwgator]

[mlocher]

The scientists observed the jellyfish attaching itself to the subsea equipment using its large flattened arms. These "paddle-like" arms lack stinging tentacles, and scientists are unsure of their exact function.

Their function is to attach the jellyfish to the subsea equipment. Did the same guy write both sentences?

[mlocher]

Did you see Nidarious Rex in the second posting?

[nickcarraway]

Yum

[Jack Hydrazine]

Would you care for a jellybaby?

[John-Irish]

Holy Smokes!!! That’s one big ass Jellyfish!! (wheres the peanut butter?)

[JRios1968]

I, for one, welcome our new underwater overlords...

[A.A. Cunningham]

BBC

[HighlyOpinionated]

Do people who fall overboard and are never rescued end up being stung and eaten by large Jelly Fish?

Forget Jaws, this Jelly Fish will give me nightmares.

[Steve Van Doorn]

is that real?

[cogitator]

I've seen that picture before, but never really investigated it. So this time I did. The jellyfish is real but the picture isn't. The jellyfish shown is one of the biggest in the world (by a small amount, the Lion's Mane can be bigger), and if you read one of the links below, you'll read about a fishing trawler that capsized when it tried to haul in a load of these things. When you see the pictures, you'll see why. Anyway, it's a Nomura jellyfish and it can get up to 2 meters in diameter -- nothing to sneeze at -- but not as big as indicated by the picture.

Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish

Giant jellyfish pictures: Japan's Nomura invasion (National Geographic)

How do you tackle an invasion of giant jellyfish? Make sushi (this has the original of the picture; without the diver)

This isn't a Nomura, but it's big anyway:

This is a Nomura:

This picture is kinda unreal, but I think it's authentic:

And this is what it looks like when a trawler nets a bunch of 'em:

[Steve Van Doorn]

WOW thank you.
that second picture is out of this world!