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A giant jellyfish approximately 5 feet in diameter has washed up on Lincolnville Beach.
The massive invertebrate is a lion’s mane jellyfish — the largest known jellyfish, and is a species commonly found in Maine waters. While lion’s mane jellyfish regularly wash up on Maine beaches, they are typically much smaller.
Christopher Mir and his partner, Lisa Utman, were walking the beach Tuesday morning when they spotted it.
“A few people understandably think it’s AI — it definitely doesn’t look real — even in real life,” Mir said.
While Mir and Utman have seen large lion’s mane jellyfish before, they’ve never seen anything like this, he said.
The jellyfish is still on the beach, though it has shrunk considerably since washing up after spending a day in the sun.
Lion’s mane jellyfish can have up to 1,200 hair-like tentacles that may stretch more than 100 feet in length. Those tentacles can still sting even after the jellyfish has died or washed ashore.
The largest lion’s mane jellyfish on record was found off the coast of Massachusetts and had a bell diameter of about 7 feet.