It looks like the sort of thing you might see in a sci-fi film.
But this bizarre creature found on a beach is actually a rare jellyfish.
Along with their two kids, Adam and Eve Dickinson stumbled across a lion’s mane jellyfish at Pakiri Beach, in north Auckland, New Zealand on Monday morning.
‘[Jellyfish] were everywhere, it was amazing,’ Mrs Dickinson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘One (jellyfish) was massive and really impressive, none of the others were like this one, it looked like a volcano.
The Dickinson family were stunned after finding a lion’s mane jellyfish on an Auckland beach
The distinctive lion’s mane jellyfish which washed on up on Auckland beach earlier this week
‘We stopped and when we started looking at it, we then noticed it was starting to move slowly.
‘My kids then poked it with a stick to see it would move again.’
The lion’s mane jellyfish, the largest species found in New Zealand waters, is often confined to colder climates.
They use their stinging tentacles to capture and eat prey.
In recent years across the Tasman, they have been spotted in Devonport, Orewa, Whangarei Heads and Nelson.
Diana Macpherson, a marine biology technician at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, confirmed the eye-catching jellyfish are not poisonous – but stings can result in small welts.
‘They have a toxin in their tentacles which can hurt you if you get too close to them,’ she told Fairfax.
‘People should always treat them with caution.’
The lion’s mane jellyfish, also known as Cyanea capillata, in its natural environment