Giant jellyfish washes up on Wallasey beach

The lion's mane jellyfish is among the world's largest

A dog walker was stunned to stumble over one of the world's largest jellyfish on a beach.

Andy Donoghue said he "couldn't believe his eyes" when he saw the metre-wide creature, which had washed up on Seacombe beach in Wallasey, Wirral.

The lion's mane jellyfish is widespread across Europe but usually only grows to about 50cm (19ins) in UK waters.

Marine expert Georgia de Jong Cleyndert said it was "unusual" to see an invertebrate of this size here.

Mr Donoghue, 37, and his dog Milo made the find on Wednesday.

He said he was walking along when the pet raced ahead before curiously stopping and "taking a big sniff".

"I initially thought it was a large rock face," he said.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I stopped dead and thought, 'wow'.

Ms de Jong Cleyndert, of the North West Wildlife Trust, said she had received a report of a similarly-sized lion's mane at Sandscale in Cumbria last week.

She said the species had a "nasty sting" and was most commonly spotted between June and September.

"The largest ever recorded was found off the coast of Massachusetts in 1865 and had a diameter of 2.1m (82 inches) and tentacles around 36m," she added.

Elsewhere, unusually high numbers of octopus have been seen along the Cornish coast this month.

Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata)

• Reddish-brown and umbrella-shaped with long, thin hair-like tentacles

• Given its name as it has "all the beauty and bite of a lion"

• Usually grows from about 30cm (11 inches) to about 50cm (19ins)

• Known for its painful sting

• They prey on fish and other smaller jellyfish

Source: Marine Conservation Society and The Wildlife Trusts

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