Are all Jellyfish nasty?

MedDreamer

MedDreamer

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Finally managed to get a swim last time out at the boat, we have not had the weather up until now. I was just having a look at the antifouling (nice job) and enjoying a bit of snorkelling when I spotted a small jelly fish (6 inch?) between me and the swim platform steps.

Having been stung by one on the past (like being slashed with a sharp hot knife) I was a little bit panicky (in the way some people are with wasps) and started to get out as quickly as I reasonably could. However I think my thrashing about created currents in the water that drew the thing to me and I really scrambled out at the end. (Big butch Yorkshireman eh). Not easy wearing flippers!

Its only since then that I realised I know diddly squat about jellyfish. Do they all sting or is it OK to swim with some types, do you have to make contact to be stung or can they fire some type of secretion at you.

I'm sure there are a few less wuzzy types on here who have taken on jellyfish and won so any information would be gratefully received.

Martyn

PS It is boaty because I was swimming from my boat.
 
Pah! Kids' stuff! Try Googling for Box Jellyfish:

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You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and drown before reaching the shore. So don't go swimming alone! Be sure to know the first aid procedures.

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Conversely, my kids gather the jellyfish in the Beaulieu River, to throw at each other and haven't been stung yet.....
 
I dont think the small transparent ones with 4 purple rings on the top (moon jelleyfish) are harmful going by seeing kids pick them up and throw them at each other. I have no first hand evidence since, like you, I'm wary of anything creepy/gooey.
 
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Pah! Kids' stuff! Try Googling for Box Jellyfish:

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Don't think you need worry about these around UK waters or even med, 'cos just not warm enough.

We've always worn stinger suits (very fetching pieces of kit)when at risk, but it's amazing the number that don't. Can't believe that people will risk their lives for the sake of looking stupid /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Yes, they're the ones my kids pick up.

Further info for Martyn: Jellyfish don't fire stuff at you, the sting brushes off on contact with something (like your body) and then does its stuff. I *think* the sting is contained in trailing tentacles, so maybe no tentacles=no sting? Given that warmer water seems to equate to more fearsome, man-eating creatures, I'm guessing that there may be more lethal types of jellyfish in the Med. than in the Solent, though I have heard that they are particularly fond of Yorkshiremen anyway.
 
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Don't think you need worry about these around UK waters or even med, 'cos just not warm enough.

[/ QUOTE ] I'm sure you're correct. We're going to Oz over Christmas, and will be spending some time in Port Douglas and the Barrier Reef, so they're somewhat on my mind at the moment. There's a bit in Bill Bryson's book about Oz which recounts a story (told, no doubt, with relish by the locals) about a guy who'd been stung by a Box Jellyfish and who didn't stop screaming, even after they'd pumped him full of morphine. Stinger suit it is! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Eeek....

giant_jelly.jpg
 
Not sure if its an old wives tale or not, but the old wise salt in our marina (you know the one... every marina has one) informed our kids that if it has 4 circles it doesn't sting... if it has less or more than 4, or no circles, it does sting..... worked for them.... like jhr's kids, mine are seriously effective collectors!
 
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Pah! Kids' stuff! Try Googling for Box Jellyfish:

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I flew in to Cairns from UK in the eighties. There was a Swedish couple on the plane.

We touched down 10 am.

By 4 pm, she was dead and he was seriously ill in hospital.

They arrived at hotel on the Esplanade, went onto beach and straight into water. She was stung immediately and he was stung trying to pull her out. Unfortunately, by the time someone found a vinegar point she was dead.

They must have missed the warnings:

<span style="color:blue">Q. What about STINGERS & CROCODILES?

Q. Can we swim on the NATURAL BEACH in front of The Lagoon and along the foreshore?
A. SWIMMING in this area is not allowed due to the fact that crocodiles and marine stingers inhabit this area and attacks may cause injury or death. </span>

As to our jellyfish, of the ones you are likely to encounter, you only need to bother about Portuguese Man of Wars. They have a purple ridge on the balloon. They sting, but are not life threatening.
manowar.jpg


Small British Lion's Mane Jellyfish, sting like nettles.

Moon Jellyfish are harmless.

A-aurita-1_AH.jpg


The best 'first aid' treatment for a sting is vinegar. It doesn't stop the initial sting, but it neutralises the 'unfired' stinging cells in the tentacles, which are often still sticking to the skin.
 
Stinger suit is not a problem. You're going to one of the best spots on the planet, so don't worry about the nasties (too much) and enjoy it. It will be hot though. Last Christmas we saw the hottest Christmas Day on record.
 
Portuguese man of war may not be the deadliest, though it is pretty nasty and can kill, but it is certainly the biggest. We went diving in 100 feet depth in Bigbury Bay and saw one with a body the size of a wheelie bin.
 
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Portuguese man of war may not be the deadliest, though it is pretty nasty and can kill, but it is certainly the biggest. We went diving in 100 feet depth in Bigbury Bay and saw one with a body the size of a wheelie bin.

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A wasp sting can kill, but people who do not suffer from an anaphylactic shock will just feel a sting. The size of a Portuguese Man of War does not make it any more venomous than a small one. You just risk increasing the area stung.

I was stung several times by them when I was a kid and I am still alive.

Duncan, Moon jellyfish, with the four small half circles, as illustrated above, don't sting humans and I was picking them out of the water the weekend before last. Didn't feel a thing.

<span style="color:blue"> "Common Jellyfish (also called Moon Jellyfish), Aurelia aurita, which do not sting humans. The threadlike tentacles around the edge of the bell can sting, and may occasionally catch small swimming animals for food, but their stings - like minute harpoons fired by springs - are not powerful enough to pierce our thick skin. They feed mostly by trapping microscopic plankton in a film of mucus which flows over the surface of the bell and is picked off as it reaches the edges by the thick mouth tentacles underneath. They swim by pulsing the bell, pushing themselves slowly forwards through the water. </span>

jhr, jellyfish stings are 'fired' and not brushed off. The are sort of spring loaded and will trip the spring - fire - on contact with a suitable medium. Vinegar stations are set up on many Queensland beaches as the vinegar suppresses the stinging cells ability to 'fire'.

The reason I know this is because I did an attachment with Oz Army in Townsville and we were briefed over and over again about all their nasty animals.
 
Yup, they're sure big. In our last season in the UK we were anchored somewhere between Start Pt and Dartmouth (can't remember the name of the bay). I happened to look down into the water and saw what I first thought was a large sheet of plastic floating by but it was moving in an odd way so I looked again and it was the motherf*****r of all jellyfish. Bloody huge thing. Portugese M o W I guess. Unfortunately could'nt get the camera out quick enough before it was gone but I did launch the tender to warn the boat anchored nearby whose kids were happily swimming in the water
 
My SWMBO has studied this in some detail. In fact she bought a little book on the bloody things only its actually quite difficult to identify for sure what you are looking at through the water. She even fished some out of the water onto our bathing platform one day with a boathook against my better judgement and had a good poke around (biology was her favourite school subject). I washed them off with fresh water but next day she was sitting on the edge of the bathing platform dangling her feet in the water when she suddenly sprang up complaining her bum was on fire and, sure enough, it was covered in red weals so I guess jellyfish sting has a shelf life. Laugh. I nearly cried
We treat every jellyfish as potentially harmful and I always take a good look round before jumping in the water. We have heard stories of peeps being stung in the Med water and ending up in hospital with an (allergic?) reaction. My boat cleaner in Majorca only allows her kids in the water with T shirts on because of the risk. You can get some stuff called Safe Sea which is supposed to protect you.
Have'nt put you off, have I?
 
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