Giant jellyfish wash up on Texel

DutchNews.nl, Friday 16 May 2014

The giant jellyfish on the beach of

Texel. (NOS/Ecomare/Sytske Dijksen)

Several jellyfish of up to 50 centimetres in diameter and weighing up to 11 kilos have been washed up on the Dutch Wadden Islands and the British coast over the past few days.

Rhizostoma pulmo, commonly known as the barrel jellyfish or the dustbin-lid jellyfish, normally die in the winter but have survived because of the warm conditions this year, Dutch sea life institute Ecomare said in a statement.

This means they have continued to grow and have now been washed up on beaches because of the winds and tides. The jellyfish are usually found on the shoreline in the late summer and autumn, Ecomare said.

The jellyfish are not dangerous to humans.