Nomura's jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai) is a very large Japanese jellyfish. Known in Japanese as echizen kurage (エチゼンクラゲ), it is one of the largest species of jellyfish.
Growing up to 2m (6 ft 7 in) in diameter and weighing up to 200kg (440 lb), Nomura's Jellyfish reside primarily in the waters between China and Japan, primarily centralized in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea where they spawn.
While stings of this large jellyfish are painful, they are not usually toxic enough to cause serious harm in humans. However, the jellyfish's sting has been reported as fatal in some cases by causing a build-up of fluid in the lungs. As a precaution, fisherman encountering these jellyfish wear eye protection and protective clothes. To date there have only been eight reported deaths from the Nomura's sting.
In an attempt to utilize the jellyfish in a productive manner, coastal communities in Japan are doing their best to promote jellyfish as a novelty food, sold dried and salted.Students in Obama, Fukui (Japan) have managed to turn them into tofu, and jellyfish collagen is reported to be beneficial to the skin.
The jellyfish population has become such a substantial problem for Japan that it has led the government to form a committee to combat the problem.
