KRISTI PETERSEN SCHOONOVER

What species of jelly this is stumped me for a day or two, but an internet search turned up that thousands of these jellies had been washing up on Cape Cod beaches all week–particularly out at Wellfleet, more toward the Cape’s tip. It turns out that this is a Purple Lion’s Mane jelly. Most Lion’s Manes I’ve seen are reddish-brown or orangish-brown/goldenrod and clear, but that would make sense: Lion’s Manes “bloom” during August (a bloom is when the jelly population explodes because lots of little ones have “grown up” all at once).