This unusual species, often called the ‘pink meanie’, is recognized for its cotton-candy-like color, huge frame, and the fact that it feasts on other jellyfish in a pretty brutal way.
Jace Tunnell, director of community engagement at the Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi, Texas, said more than ten of these creatures have been seen along a 10-mile strip of coastline, a number that is much higher than usual.
Known scientifically as Drymonema larsoni, the pink meanie can weigh over 50 pounds. With tentacles trailing behind it that can grow longer than a school bus, it’s an incredible sight in the water.
Although they look delicate and almost too pretty to be dangerous, these jellyfish are fierce predators. Their main food source is moon jellyfish, which they hunt and consume in large numbers.
“This is about the time when you start seeing them show up,” Tunnell explained, pointing out that pink meanies usually appear when swarms of moon jellies drift through the Gulf of Mexico. Their arrival is tied to the abundance of prey moving along the currents.
Moon jellies, or Aurelia aurita, are common in the Gulf. They float passively, feeding on plankton, which makes them easy targets for predators with long sticky tentacles like the pink meanie.
Despite the scary nickname, their sting is not as extreme as people might expect. Tunnell said he would rate it a ‘two out of 10’. Still, he warned that people who are sensitive to stings should be cautious. If contact does happen, vinegar can help reduce the sting.
And in case anyone is curious, Tunnell made it clear: “If you’re like, ‘do people eat these things? It looks like cotton candy’. No, you can’t eat these things. This is one of the jellyfish that people aren’t eating.”
The discovery was so significant that scientists had to establish a completely new jellyfish family, something that hadn’t happened since 1921. That makes the pink meanie one of the most remarkable jellyfish finds in recent history.
They’ve been seen in the Gulf, the Mediterranean, and even near South Africa, but encounters remain rare. Once washed ashore, they don’t last long, as their water-filled bodies quickly dry out and shrink away.
“That’s what I love about science,” he said. “There’s still new species to be found out there.”
