Jellyfish stings, invasions, loose tentacles...

[erparamedic]

I've read on several threads about being stung and not seeing the "assailant". Several folks have mentioned loose tentacles from jellyfish. I didn't realize that loose tentacles could pose such an issue. Of course, I'm landlocked and rarely see the ocean...so don't know as much about it as others might. How long after a "detachment" can the tentacles still sting?

Did you all see this on this mornings Yahoo home page?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060808/ap_on_sc/spain_jellyfish_invasion

In the article, it mentions treating the stings with only salt water... what ever happened to the meat tenderizer, vinigar, or peeing on the stings (ha!)?

 

[mislav]

I was lucky so far in avoiding being stung, but judging by the way things are going I'll need all the luck I can get to steer clear of those tentacles. :shakehead

 

[dive_lover88]

One of my friend got entangelled with a jellyfish ,apparently the tentacles wrapped around his neck and poor dude got stung badly.

 

[ScubaMike14]

One of my friend got entangelled with a jellyfish ,apparently the tentacles wrapped around his neck and poor dude got stung badly.

That must have been one BIG jellyfish if the tentacles were that long. I have never been "entangled" by a jellyfish before, but have been stung many times.

Hope your friend is okay.

Mike Rushton

 

[RV]

That must have been one BIG jellyfish if the tentacles were that long. I have never been "entangled" by a jellyfish before, but have been stung many times.

Hope your friend is okay.

Mike Rushton

I have many times... With the typical Gulf stinging jellyfish, a large one is about the size of an adult males hand out stretched. That size jelly would have tentacles in the 4 up to 8 foot range.

 

[mdmbike to scuba]

I've heard that they can sting up on hour after they have been cut from the body. Now no fact on this one just what i heard somewhere. I just might be wrong or right dont know.......Mark

 

[RV]

it burns for a good while

 

[Fish Wrangler]

About a month ago, I was diving wrecks off the Georgia coast. When we got to the dive site, there were a lot of Atlantic spadefish feeding at the surface. DM said they were after the jellyfish.

Good, I thought, get rid of them. Turns out spadefish don't like the stingy parts, so they attack just the body, leaving all sorts of stingy, nearly translucent tentacles in the water. And yes, they do keep stinging after being separated from the rest of the animal. My neck looked like it had been garrotted. Vinegar applied immediately afterward helped somewhat, but I'm taking the captain's suggestion and using meat tenderizer next time.

 

[ScubaCatgirl]

Talk of stinging tenacles once seperated...hmmmm.... wonder if that new "Sea Safe" would protect from the stinging tenacles detached from the body?

 

[dive_lover88]

That must have been one BIG jellyfish if the tentacles were that long. I have never been "entangled" by a jellyfish before, but have been stung many times.

Hope your friend is okay.

Mike Rushton

I have no idea how he managed to swim into a jellyfish... but it sure was a bad one