A woman has been treated in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness after being stung by a Lion's Mane Jellyfish, Cyanea capillata, while swimming off Whiteness Beach near Ardersier on the Moray Firth on Saturday 19 September 2020. Libby Bligh, 50, of Kinmylies, in Inverness, encountered the metre-long Jellyfish while coming out of the water following a swimming trip with a friend. She complained of a severe burning sensation, and began to feel unwell on the drive back to Inverness, prompting her friend to take her to the hospital. By the time they arrived she had developed breathing problems, and was diagnosed with anaphylactic shock. Ms Bligh was treated at the hospital then kept under observation for a further 24 hours before being released.
The Lion's Mane Jellyfish is the largest known species of Jellyfish, reaching over 2 m in diameter and with tentacles that can be more than 30 m in length. They are exclusively found in cooler temperate waters around the North Atlantic, North Pacific, Arctic Ocean and Baltic Sea. They are pelagic, able to swim against currents under their own energy, rather than drifting as many Jellyfish do, and spend most of their lives in open water, but they move into coastal waters towards the end of their annual life-cycle, when the (sexual) medusae produce eggs, which in turn hatch into a polyp which attaches to the seafloor in shallow waters, from which new medusae bud off asexually.
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