A large jellyfish stung approximately 150 people at the Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, New Hampshire on Wednesday. The injured included ten children treated at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital. The jellyfish weighed approximately fifty pounds and had thirteen foot tentacles.

A lifeguard spotted the jellyfish within a hundred and fifty meters of shore. The lifeguard had swum out on a surf board and attempted to use a pitchfork to remove the creature from the water. The jellyfish was already dead and broke into pieces during removal. It was stingers on the creature’s tentacles, which remain active for three to four days after death that caused the injuries to swimmers in the water.

Lion’s mane jellyfish are native to the cold waters of the Arctic, north Atlantic, and north Pacific oceans. They are seldom found so far south. They are the largest known species of jellyfish, capable of reaching a bell diameter of eight feet with hundreds of tentacles reaching upward of ninety feet.

Lion’s mane jellyfish feed primarily on plankton, small fish, and other species of smaller jellyfish. Their sting causes burning and tissue inflammation but is usually not lethal.

Wallis Sands beach was temporarily closed but is due to reopen Thursday.

World’s Largest Lion’s Mane jellyfish Captured:

A giant Lion’s Mane jellyfish found by a fisherman is claimed to be the largest captive jellyfish in the world.

The Lion’s Mane jellyfish’s is typically seen the boreal waters of the extreme northern region and is almost never seen in southern latitudes.

The 14-inch-diameter Lion’s Mane jellyfish has been moved to The Deep sea aquarium located in Hull.