Melbourne Harbor And Beaches Awash In Venomous Lion's Mane Jellyfish

[hatrack]

Swimmers have been advised to steer clear if they see red jellyfish in the water after a gelatinous horde descended on Melbourne beaches. Thousands of lion’s mane jellyfish have washed into the shallows and on to the sand across Port Phillip Bay, from Altona in the west to Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula.

The Port Phillip Baykeeper, Neil Blake, said a bloom of that size was a rare event, last seen about four years ago. The influx followed a bloom of bluebottles that washed up on Victorian beaches in December. Their presence ebbed and flowed with the wind and waves, although numbers appeared to have declined from a week ago when the arrival of a “massive smack” of jellies caused the closure of one Melbourne beach.

Most of the current lot were about the size of a peach, he said, with “quite long tentacles” stretching up to about a metre, sometimes more. Some could reportedly grow up to a metre across, however. “The joys of an Australian summer!” said Bayside city council on social media, noting jellyfish sightings and strandings were a natural and seasonal occurrence. The council, with coastline stretching from Brighton to Beaumaris, advised beachgoers to take care when swimming, walking barefoot on the sand, or with dogs.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/28/lions-mane-jellyfish-melbourne-beaches-port-phillip-bay

[riversedge]

1. .... Don't touch jellyfish on the sand as they can still sting."

...........“If you can see jellyfish in the shallows, don’t swim,” a Life Saving Victoria spokesperson advised. “Stick to patrolled beaches and always swim between the red and yellow flags. Don’t touch jellyfish on the sand as they can still sting.”