UPDATE: MAY 28, 2020 — With Victoria's new eased restrictions coming into effect at midnight on Sunday, May 31, Sea Life Melbourne — and its million-dollar jellyfish exhibition — will reopen to the public on June 1. To celebrate the move, the aquarium is offering 15 percent off online tickets, which you can purchase via the website.

They're perhaps the most mystical of all sea creatures, but you probably haven't had much of a chance to get up close and personal with real-life jellyfish. Well, all that's about to change. Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium is shining the spotlight on these ocean enigmas with an interactive new $1.5 million permanent jellyfish exhibition.

Spread across 300 square metres and three multi-sensory zones, and featuring a thousands of jellyfish from a range of species, Ocean Invaders has made its home permanently at the aquarium. It's home to a range of exhibitions dedicated to these gelatinous critters — from lighting installations to hands-on activities and mesmerising, colourful displays of living jellyfish.

Here, you can learn the ins and outs of jellyfish, watch them being cared for by Sea Life's ocean experts and even crawl through a cylindrical tank surrounded by them. In another zone, striking light projections lend even more magic to a range of living displays, including one transparent sphere that's packed full of floating creatures.

Species like the blue blubber jellyfish (catostylus mosaicus), the upside-down jellyfish (cassiopea andromeda) and sea nettles (chrysaora melanaster) also feature in the Ocean Invaders collection, which also aims to school visitors on why some jellyfish populations are currently booming across our oceans.