This giant jellyfish was found washed up on Exmouth beach yesterday.
Exmouth RNLI worker Emma Tarling found the scary-looking creature at the bottom of the ramp on Exmouth beach.
Hundreds of barrel jellyfish sightings have been reported along the south west recently and experts believe there will be more as the weather warms up.
The sightings in Devon have contributed to a marine conservation charity receiving a record number of reports from the south west.
Peter Richardson, the Marine Conservation Society's biodiversity programme manager, said the charity first started getting reports of barrel jellyfish in mid-April, off Teignmouth, and during May there were daily reports, mostly from Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, but also south Wales and north Scotland.
Dr Richardson said: "This year is a very unusual year for barrel jellyfish in the south west. It's normal to have barrel jellyfish in UK waters but this is the first time since we started our survey in 2003 that we've had quite so many reports from the south west.
"We have received 133 records of jellyfish around the country and 117 of those have been barrel jellyfish. Most have been from the south west.
"This species is the only one that can survive multiple seasons so we think what we're seeing in the south west is a lot of adults that survived the mild winter.
"We've also had a pretty good start to the basking shark season this year and they also feed on plankton, so it could be the south west seas areproductive at the moment. We're really pleased.
"We only know what's out there if people report sightings to us through our website.
"We ask people to look but not touch as some species sting. Barrel jellyfish have a very mild sting but some people could have an allergic reaction."
