A ‘massive smack’ of lion’s mane jellyfish has appeared across Port Phillip Bay, but experts say fears of a ‘jellygeddon’ are overblown
Swimmers have been advised to steer clear if they see red jellies 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.
