The topic of giant jellyfish has come up before on Japundit, particularly since it turns out you can (but probably don’t want to) eat them. But Pink Tentacle via Sankei has some nice pictures of the giant Echizen kurage jellyfish that have returned like clockwork to bedevil fishermen and generally cause problems.

Except to recreational divers who like looking at them. Manabu Nakamata, a 38-year-old diver from Nagoya and an admirer of the monster jellyfish, says, “They are surprisingly hard to the touch. They are big, and extremely impressive.”

Big indeed — Echizen kurage can grow up to 2 meters (6 ft. 7 in.) in diameter and weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 lb.) each. They do look kind of scary in the pictures.

But a recnt radio program says we have a similar problem with them in the West and that, although big, they are not dangerous to a diver with any kind of wetsuit. But if bare skin is involved they can apparently deliver quite a sting. Like probably fatal (maybe).