Giant jellyfish, 11kg, found on beach

Jellyfish half a meter in diameter, and almost 11 kilos in weight have been found on coasts near the Wadden sea as well as Britain. Barrel jellyfish are not only abnormally big, but are also descending upon the Dutch coastline at a strange time, Ecomare reports. On average, barrel jellyfish, also known as dustbin-lid jellyfish, appear in Dutch waters after Summer and during Autumn.

Biologists explain that the sudden appearance of these monster jellyfish is quite simple: they survived the winter. They are large because they have kept growing. This happens every now and then, but only during a mild winter. This past winter has been the second warmest in 115 years. In cold winters, the jellyfish all die, leaving only the polyps alive. These polyps only morph into jellyfish again after Spring, which is why the barrel jellyfish usually seen in the Summer are much smaller. "They are very rare. We have found four here on Texel, and we have seen ten more along the British coast", over the last few weeks, said Gerbrand Gaaff, a biologist with Ecomare in an interview with the NL Times. It is the biggest species of jellyfish found in the Netherlands. Intimidating, but not dangerous. "This type of jellyfish cannot sting, so there is absolutely no danger whatsoever", Gaaff said. The creature's stinging cells are not powerful enough to penetrate human skin. It feeds on plankton.