The pink meanie is a rare ‘unicorn’ of the jellyfish world and a once-in-a-lifetime sight!
Cape Town, South Africa (04 June 2026) – Weeks after welcoming Cherry to its interesting marine members, the Two Oceans Aquarium (TOA) has welcomed a new jellyfish resident called the ‘Pink Meanie’, and she’s incredibly rare!
In fact, the aquarium has only housed this kind of jellyfish a handful of times in its 30-year history. Last year, TOA welcomed a record number of five Pink Meanies. It is the only aquarium in the world to successfully display them together!
Why? It’s all in the name.
The Pink Meanie isn’t really great company around other jellyfish. In fact, it feeds on them…
This makes it ‘jellivorous’ and notoriously difficult to house alongside other jelly species, particularly true jellyfish like compass jellies, and box jellies – two of its favourite meals.
The species found along South Africa’s coast is one of only three described in the Drymonema subgroup of true jellies. It is thought to be endemic to our coastline and is still in the process of being classified!
Ours is the only known species to inhabit cold water – others are predominantly found in the warmer waters along the coast of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea
The Two Oceans Aquarium says that this jelly is an incredibly rare sight for human eyes. Currently housed in the aquarium’s jelly gallery, you might want to pop in to pay this pink meanie a visit and see her in action!
“One of the reasons that pink meanies are rarely seen in the wild is because of their diet as jelly-eating jellies. Thus, they are only ever experienced after and during large jelly swarms along the coastline. This is how our team first encountered pink meanies after a swarm of night light jellies (Pelagia noctiluca) occurred in Table Bay.” shares the aquarium.
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