# What's this jelly-like stuff we found on the beach in Australia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222 "2008-06-08T14:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/1 "2008-06-08T14:31:41Z")
… and no, it wasn’t a jellyfish. [Picture](http://picasaweb.google.com/tabby.nat/Misc/photo#5209517453503007970) Me and the TabbyMouse visited Melbourne, and drove down the Great Ocean Road. On the first beach out of Melbourne, though, we hopped out of the car to have a look at the beach… there was some washed up seaweed on the beach, as well as some of these weird transparent jelly blobs, which were actually quite firm. They didn’t appear to have any particular shape or size, but littered the beach all over. We have no idea what it is, although the B&B owner thought it might have been something from a cuttlefish. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/2 "2008-06-08T14:45:32Z")
I’ve wondered what that stuff is myself. (I’ve seen in it SoCal.) FWIW, I had to c&p the URL to see the image. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/3 "2008-06-08T15:00:09Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] … and no, it wasn’t a jellyfish. [/QUOTE] Actually, it probably [is](http://www.livingocean.org/jellyfish.html). Scroll down to Moon Jellyfish. These things die, get battered around by the surf and then wash up on shore, looking nothing like a live jelly in the water. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/4 "2008-06-08T15:07:50Z")
Don’t dead jellyfish sting? I doubt someone would be able to hold it in their hand…I’ve seen people stung from stepping on a dead jellyfish that washed up on the beach. ETA…I see from **QED** ’s link some dead jellyfish are harmless. It sure looks like one to me. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/5 "2008-06-08T15:10:31Z")
On preview, no longer applicable. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/6 "2008-06-08T15:13:46Z")
HOLY CRAP THAT WAS A JELLYFISH?! _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/7 "2008-06-08T15:30:53Z")
Now you’ll have to find a peanut butter fish. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/8 "2008-06-08T17:05:23Z")
Yep, almost definitely jellyfish. You see a lot of them washed up on the west coast of the UK after storms. You can pick them up (and throw them at other people, if you’re an obnoxious kid 🙂 ) and they don’t sting - I think they’re the remnants of bodies of compass jellyfish. Apparently compass jellyfish can give a painful sting, but the ones that wash up rarely have any tentacles left attached to them. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/9 "2008-06-09T02:10:07Z")
Definitely jellyfish. We get them on the beaches here in Adelaide after storms as well. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/10 "2008-06-09T02:56:33Z")
I was thinking factory reject breast implants. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-jelly-like-stuff-we-found-on-the-beach-in-australia/452222/11 "2008-06-09T04:03:54Z")
A very dead jelly, after all the soft bits have been eaten or ground off in the surf. QED is 100% correct.