14 DAY TRIAL // This past January, a family enjoying a quiet day at the beach in Australia came across a weird-looking creature that looked very much like a giant pile of snot.
Information shared with the public says that the animal, which the family found while collecting shells, was discovered on a beach on the island of Tasmania in Australia.
The creature is estimated to have measured about 1.5 meters (about 4 feet and 11 inches) in diameter at the time when it was busy swimming around in the ocean.
Otherwise put, its size was nothing short of impressive. Hence the fact that the Lim family were a tad taken aback when first laying eyes on it. Daily Mail reports that, after coming across the animal, the Lim family took a picture of it and sent it to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
Based on this picture, and on information obtained while examining the creature's body, specialists concluded that it must be some kind of oversized lion's mane jellyfish.
On the other hand, it is also possible that the jellyfish belongs to a species that has not yet been documented by science.
“It boggles the mind. I mean, it’s so big. I knew that the species gets fairly large, but I didn’t know that it gets that large,” researcher Lisa-Ann Gershwin with CSIRO told the press, as cited by Metro.
“It is so big it took our breath away. It's a whopper of an animal but it's not life-threatening, although it does sting,” the specialist added.
Specialists say that, with the help of pictures and tissue samples collected from the animal, they will soon be able to determine what species it belongs to.
What's interesting is that, according to Lisa-Ann Gershwin, a major jellyfish bloom has been taking place in Tasmanian waters over the past few months. Researchers have not yet determined the phenomenon's underlying cause.