Gelatinous horde of red stinging jellyfish washes into Melbourne beaches

Hordes of red lion’s mane jellyfish have washed into Melbourne beaches, most about the size of a peach with tentacles stretching up to a metre long. Photograph: Nature Photographers Ltd/Alamy

Swimmers have been advised to steer clear if they see red jellyfish in the water after a gelatinous horde descended on Melbourne beaches.

Thousands of lion’s mane jellyfish have washed into the shallows and on to the sand across Port Phillip Bay, from Altona in the west to Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula.