Jellyfish warnings
- Thread starter Roberto
- Start date
Jungle Jim
Guest
Vinegar.............maybe, might cause a reaction worse then the initial sting!
Ammonia.........yes.
Urine...............yes.
I have ALWAYS carried a plastic spray bottle of grocery store quality ammonia on my boat. It WILL neutralize the stinging venom of any jellyfish encountered in the Sea of Cortez.
Some things to consider: An adult Portuguese Man O War drifting off-shore may only be ten inches across it's blue gas filled crested float. The underside of the float consists of several types of feeding polyps, young medusas and tangles of long stinging tentacles that can reach over sixty feet into the water column. Those tentacles are armed with the largest stinging capsules in the jellyfish world and can readily paralyze a large fish. The trailing "hunting" tentacles form a sort of wide snare that passing fish, shrimp and other plankton animals rarely escape. The tentacles are muscular and the animal can pull them up in rough weather as well as use them to bring prey up to the main body of the colony to feed. Each stinging capsule contains a spring loaded venom filled coiled barb that easily penetrates human skin where it remains firmly attached. The larger stinging capsules known as nematocysts can be as big as a small pea and beautiful red, green or blue in color. The smaller tentacles may be completely transparent and difficult to see even as they stick to your skin burning like fire.
Talk to any fish killers that troll with lures out of RP, all will have tales to tell about the painful whiplash like wounds on their arms, faces and bare chests caused by those tentacles that get caught up on the monofilament fishing line then smack the rod tip as they reel in the lure or fish and end up sticking to you like glue.
When the early summer winds blow the blue drifters in shore and they get beat up in the surf (like this coming week end), the tentacles get torn off and pulverized into tiny bits that are still living animals and can still sting just as powerfully as when they were part of the drifting colony. This is when they become a hazard for beach goers. The sting of the Man-of-War can kill an adult human bean! The excruciating pain can put a person into a coma! The washed up float is relatively harmless as the outer skin as no stinging capsules but if there is any trace of the ragged remains of the tentacles on the underside of the float watch out!
Also, the Man-of-War is not a jellyfish, it is a colony of animals known as Siphonophores with many thousands of tiny animals contributing their different functions to the organization of the colony.
JJ
Ammonia.........yes.
Urine...............yes.
I have ALWAYS carried a plastic spray bottle of grocery store quality ammonia on my boat. It WILL neutralize the stinging venom of any jellyfish encountered in the Sea of Cortez.
Some things to consider: An adult Portuguese Man O War drifting off-shore may only be ten inches across it's blue gas filled crested float. The underside of the float consists of several types of feeding polyps, young medusas and tangles of long stinging tentacles that can reach over sixty feet into the water column. Those tentacles are armed with the largest stinging capsules in the jellyfish world and can readily paralyze a large fish. The trailing "hunting" tentacles form a sort of wide snare that passing fish, shrimp and other plankton animals rarely escape. The tentacles are muscular and the animal can pull them up in rough weather as well as use them to bring prey up to the main body of the colony to feed. Each stinging capsule contains a spring loaded venom filled coiled barb that easily penetrates human skin where it remains firmly attached. The larger stinging capsules known as nematocysts can be as big as a small pea and beautiful red, green or blue in color. The smaller tentacles may be completely transparent and difficult to see even as they stick to your skin burning like fire.
Talk to any fish killers that troll with lures out of RP, all will have tales to tell about the painful whiplash like wounds on their arms, faces and bare chests caused by those tentacles that get caught up on the monofilament fishing line then smack the rod tip as they reel in the lure or fish and end up sticking to you like glue.
When the early summer winds blow the blue drifters in shore and they get beat up in the surf (like this coming week end), the tentacles get torn off and pulverized into tiny bits that are still living animals and can still sting just as powerfully as when they were part of the drifting colony. This is when they become a hazard for beach goers. The sting of the Man-of-War can kill an adult human bean! The excruciating pain can put a person into a coma! The washed up float is relatively harmless as the outer skin as no stinging capsules but if there is any trace of the ragged remains of the tentacles on the underside of the float watch out!
Also, the Man-of-War is not a jellyfish, it is a colony of animals known as Siphonophores with many thousands of tiny animals contributing their different functions to the organization of the colony.
JJ
mondone
Whitecaps
I last posted this in Sept 2013-
Oh no, the urine myth is making a re-appearance. I posted this previously on the forum, maybe it's time for refresher:
As a person who has had considerable training and internship in Poison Control Centers, I can tell you that there are no conclusive research studies that have proved that urine or ammonia has any value whatsoever in relieving jellyfish stings. If fact, depending on the urine, it can actually make it worse. Urine contains so much fresh water, it will actually make any remaining nematocysts ( which contain the toxin that causes the discomfort) to fire, releasing more toxin. That's why we recommend using seawater only to rinse the area. Vinegar is 5% acetic acid,(CH3COOH) which has shown to neutralize unfired nematocysts so that they cannot further inject venom. Now, keep in mind, this is true for jellyfish stings, not the Portuguese Man-O-War, a jellyfish look-a-like, but different creature. Some of our studies have shown vinegar to cause their nematocysts to release venom. That is why I recommend the baking soda/seawater paste instead. There is a product you may want to want to have with you called Jellyfish Squish spray. I keep a couple bottles in my casa just in case. It's good to use after the treatments above to help the pain and discomfort.
Oh no, the urine myth is making a re-appearance. I posted this previously on the forum, maybe it's time for refresher:
As a person who has had considerable training and internship in Poison Control Centers, I can tell you that there are no conclusive research studies that have proved that urine or ammonia has any value whatsoever in relieving jellyfish stings. If fact, depending on the urine, it can actually make it worse. Urine contains so much fresh water, it will actually make any remaining nematocysts ( which contain the toxin that causes the discomfort) to fire, releasing more toxin. That's why we recommend using seawater only to rinse the area. Vinegar is 5% acetic acid,(CH3COOH) which has shown to neutralize unfired nematocysts so that they cannot further inject venom. Now, keep in mind, this is true for jellyfish stings, not the Portuguese Man-O-War, a jellyfish look-a-like, but different creature. Some of our studies have shown vinegar to cause their nematocysts to release venom. That is why I recommend the baking soda/seawater paste instead. There is a product you may want to want to have with you called Jellyfish Squish spray. I keep a couple bottles in my casa just in case. It's good to use after the treatments above to help the pain and discomfort.
Jungle Jim
Guest
Mondone..............
Urine=Urea.
Urea=Ammonia with CO2.
Pain and discomfort relief=a big bottle of high proof vodka.
Your baking soda/seawater paste mix=I'll be taking with me this weekend.
JJ
Urine=Urea.
Urea=Ammonia with CO2.
Pain and discomfort relief=a big bottle of high proof vodka.
Your baking soda/seawater paste mix=I'll be taking with me this weekend.
JJ
playaperro
El Pirata
Red Cross will treat for free and give proper treatment if near town. Small donation always helps.
AZRob
Guest
Soon as I read your post, I knew you were going to get schooled as I was. Im with JJ, I know for a fact that urine works, I also know ammonia will help also. Than the ice and a stiff drink helps. I go with urine first choice.
I never have the time to get the baking soda to try. I want the pain gone asap.
Jungle Jim
Guest
Lemmie tell-a-you a scary tale...............
So, a few years back just about this time of the year I was trolling a weed and trash line maybe thirty miles off shore when all of the sudden my left side Yammi came to an instantaneous stop. I looked back to see a length of yellow poly rope trailing behind the boat. I raised the motor only to see a solid ball of the shit completely wrapped around the prop causing it to seize up against the lower unit. My Yammies are the long shaft models so I couldn't do anything about it without getting into the water. So, I grab a big knife and jump in. The instant I hit the water I thought I was being electrocuted and being burned alive. I climbed back into the boat screaming and flailing. The wife starts into the full fledged freak mode and we both see the jellyfish tentacles wrapped around my chest, back, arms and thighs (lucky I had swim trunks on). These were big thick ones about the diameter of a soda straw, transparent blue with shiny red, green and blue beads inside. The things were clinging to my skin like glue, I got my saltwater wash down nozzle out and tried to hose em off, no luck, we had to use a knife to scrape em off one by one as they were harpooned into my skin. The pain was so intense that I was getting woosey. We had our trusty spray bottle with ammonia in it and she sprayed my down and scrubbed it in with a towel. Believe me IT WORKED! I'm sure that I didn't have that bottle of ammonia that I would have been dead.
We did have a perfectly functional right side Yammie still running so began our slow run back to PP. When we got to the marina two hours later the guys were freaking out as I now looked like someone had horse whipped me. The stings had turned into lines of raised red welts still burning like fire. I told them what had happened and they were going to call Cruz Roja but I said no. Got back to the condo and took and hour long cold shower that relieved some of the pain. I had to sleep sitting up for the next three days. Saw my Doc here in Yuma was told there was nothing to do but sweat it out and that the ammonia had probably saved my life.
Now, I must say that I have been a beach boy my whole life and back in Newport Beach California in the 60's every lifeguard station had bottles of ammonia handy as treatment for the giant purple jellyfish that would get chopped up in the summer surf and sting the hell out of hundreds of people every day. They never closed the beach when the jellies were there but word got around fast when they were. I can remember seeing those huge animals silhouetted in a breaking wave, sometimes six feet across. I've been a Scuba diver for more than thirty years now and can state that every dive operator keeps ammonia on board just for such an event. The DAN organization (Divers Alert Network) an insurance company specializing in diving medicine and first aid recommends keeping a bottle of ammonia in every first aid kit on a boat.
That yellow poly rope that my Yammie had reeled in that day was an abandoned long line rig with a shorter mono line and big hook every three feet or so.
NEVER GET OUT OF THE BOAT! It's a really good idea to have TWO motors!
JJ
So, a few years back just about this time of the year I was trolling a weed and trash line maybe thirty miles off shore when all of the sudden my left side Yammi came to an instantaneous stop. I looked back to see a length of yellow poly rope trailing behind the boat. I raised the motor only to see a solid ball of the shit completely wrapped around the prop causing it to seize up against the lower unit. My Yammies are the long shaft models so I couldn't do anything about it without getting into the water. So, I grab a big knife and jump in. The instant I hit the water I thought I was being electrocuted and being burned alive. I climbed back into the boat screaming and flailing. The wife starts into the full fledged freak mode and we both see the jellyfish tentacles wrapped around my chest, back, arms and thighs (lucky I had swim trunks on). These were big thick ones about the diameter of a soda straw, transparent blue with shiny red, green and blue beads inside. The things were clinging to my skin like glue, I got my saltwater wash down nozzle out and tried to hose em off, no luck, we had to use a knife to scrape em off one by one as they were harpooned into my skin. The pain was so intense that I was getting woosey. We had our trusty spray bottle with ammonia in it and she sprayed my down and scrubbed it in with a towel. Believe me IT WORKED! I'm sure that I didn't have that bottle of ammonia that I would have been dead.
We did have a perfectly functional right side Yammie still running so began our slow run back to PP. When we got to the marina two hours later the guys were freaking out as I now looked like someone had horse whipped me. The stings had turned into lines of raised red welts still burning like fire. I told them what had happened and they were going to call Cruz Roja but I said no. Got back to the condo and took and hour long cold shower that relieved some of the pain. I had to sleep sitting up for the next three days. Saw my Doc here in Yuma was told there was nothing to do but sweat it out and that the ammonia had probably saved my life.
Now, I must say that I have been a beach boy my whole life and back in Newport Beach California in the 60's every lifeguard station had bottles of ammonia handy as treatment for the giant purple jellyfish that would get chopped up in the summer surf and sting the hell out of hundreds of people every day. They never closed the beach when the jellies were there but word got around fast when they were. I can remember seeing those huge animals silhouetted in a breaking wave, sometimes six feet across. I've been a Scuba diver for more than thirty years now and can state that every dive operator keeps ammonia on board just for such an event. The DAN organization (Divers Alert Network) an insurance company specializing in diving medicine and first aid recommends keeping a bottle of ammonia in every first aid kit on a boat.
That yellow poly rope that my Yammie had reeled in that day was an abandoned long line rig with a shorter mono line and big hook every three feet or so.
NEVER GET OUT OF THE BOAT! It's a really good idea to have TWO motors!
JJ
JJ, you should consider assembling your forum contributions into a short essay collection for posterity, seriously, with no sarcasm intended.
Jungle Jim
Guest
Thank you Jim, thank you very much..............
You know, I still have my 1970's issue US Army Aviators survival vest with a black leather holster sewn the front and my original issue Smith & Wesson .38 Special Model 10 revolver that we were only allowed to have five rounds in a six shooter, as shown in my avatar. In that vest, originally wrapped in an oiled waterproof envelope is a little manual titled "Jungle Survival". It was handily included along with a K-Bar knife, a radio, some flares, a signal mirror, a whistle, some first aid stuff and a fishing net and some fish hooks just in case our Hueys happened to take a dump over tropical waters. Somewhere in that little gem is some good advise concerning dangerous tropical marine animals to include sharks, barracudas, puffer fish and JELLYFISH. There is a drawing of a Portuguese Man-of-War and a little blurb about pain relief to be accomplished by urinating on the wound.
Anyway, it used to be a requirement to complete a formal instructional class in order to become a "certified" Scuba Diver. I've been a Dive Master since the 90's and regularly assisted with many of those classes. One of the most popular training sessions was always the hazards of marine animals to include sharks of course, then barracudas, Leopard Seals, Orcas and those pesky little mushy stingers collectively grouped as the "Coelenterata". They are the stingers to include Jellyfish, Anemones and certain Corals. The instructors couldn't wait to tell the tales of pissing on the victim in order to relieve the pain, of course the pissing had to be well directed with a pissing device in order to concentrate the piss on the wound. Who is better equipped to do that? Well of course it had to be the guys. What a thrill to work up the class with the opportunity to piss all over someone, especially if the victim is a GIRL! Big deal, they will usually still have their wet suit on.
So, the fact is that anywhere in salt water whether it be warm or cold, the water is usually filled with invisible little stingers, not to mention lots of very visible stingers that only an idiot would dare touch with a bare hand, a knee or elbow. That is why a smart diver always wears an "exposure suit", that may be a wet suit for cool water but most certainly even in warm water should be what is known as a "dive skin" made of thin lycra fabric to protect your skin and some decent gloves to protect your hands.
Oh well, gonna do a Cajun style shrimp boil tonight with last months big Gulf Browns and fresh boiled Imperial Valley sweet corn.
Later,
JJ
You know, I still have my 1970's issue US Army Aviators survival vest with a black leather holster sewn the front and my original issue Smith & Wesson .38 Special Model 10 revolver that we were only allowed to have five rounds in a six shooter, as shown in my avatar. In that vest, originally wrapped in an oiled waterproof envelope is a little manual titled "Jungle Survival". It was handily included along with a K-Bar knife, a radio, some flares, a signal mirror, a whistle, some first aid stuff and a fishing net and some fish hooks just in case our Hueys happened to take a dump over tropical waters. Somewhere in that little gem is some good advise concerning dangerous tropical marine animals to include sharks, barracudas, puffer fish and JELLYFISH. There is a drawing of a Portuguese Man-of-War and a little blurb about pain relief to be accomplished by urinating on the wound.
Anyway, it used to be a requirement to complete a formal instructional class in order to become a "certified" Scuba Diver. I've been a Dive Master since the 90's and regularly assisted with many of those classes. One of the most popular training sessions was always the hazards of marine animals to include sharks of course, then barracudas, Leopard Seals, Orcas and those pesky little mushy stingers collectively grouped as the "Coelenterata". They are the stingers to include Jellyfish, Anemones and certain Corals. The instructors couldn't wait to tell the tales of pissing on the victim in order to relieve the pain, of course the pissing had to be well directed with a pissing device in order to concentrate the piss on the wound. Who is better equipped to do that? Well of course it had to be the guys. What a thrill to work up the class with the opportunity to piss all over someone, especially if the victim is a GIRL! Big deal, they will usually still have their wet suit on.
So, the fact is that anywhere in salt water whether it be warm or cold, the water is usually filled with invisible little stingers, not to mention lots of very visible stingers that only an idiot would dare touch with a bare hand, a knee or elbow. That is why a smart diver always wears an "exposure suit", that may be a wet suit for cool water but most certainly even in warm water should be what is known as a "dive skin" made of thin lycra fabric to protect your skin and some decent gloves to protect your hands.
Oh well, gonna do a Cajun style shrimp boil tonight with last months big Gulf Browns and fresh boiled Imperial Valley sweet corn.
Later,
JJ
Indeed. I jump in when it's dead hot out there, but only after finding crystal clear blue water.
There's some red string-like jelly crap we always seem to get on out lines out at the 51. You're fighting a fish and not paying attention and it goes through your rod eyes and wraps on the reel and then slings onto your hands. I HATE that stuff! Stings like hell and one of the reasons I wear light gloves, even in summer. At times, you look in the water and it's just thick with that red snot stuff!
I always wear a T-shirt when I snorkel for the same reason. Swam into a bunch of sea nettles in San Carlos while snorkeling in a nice, clear back cove. These things are super tiny and invisible, you can't even see them in the water. But you damn well know when you're in in them because they start stinging the bejeezuz outta ya! Not as bad as a jellyfish sting, but will still leave you with some red welts that make you look like you've got a case of the measles.
Two motors, a must. I used to brave it with a single Honda 130 on my old boat, but both and motor were brand new. No guarantees, but a fair level of confidence all would be okay. Those long lines are an absolute bitch. One, they are illegal, but doesn't seem to stop anybody from putting them out there. And they often run for miles, especially in San Carlos. They are one hell of a hazard because they are not marked, other than empty quart oil bottles floating them on the surface. You usually don't see them until you are right on top of them. I've always got an eyeball out for long lines in the summer. Often, another boat will cut them, so then you've got long pieces of them floating at random in the current. If we find a fresh one, I'll often slow troll along it because the dorado will often hang with any of their brethern that are hooked on the long line. The wife HATES IT when I do that, because you really have to watch the line and make sure it's not curled somewhere where you'll run over it. Still, have put some nice size dorado in the box that way. I'd rather find a fat sargasso paddy, but as you know, they aren't always there.
Any update on the jellyfish situation along Sandy Beach, Las Conchas or Encanto ?
Any reports from those who might be down there now, or have recently been down ?
Jungle Jim
Guest
Did a twenty mile Jeep run on the shores of Bahia San Jorge a week ago...nary a one.
I was planning on finding a few fresh Portuguese Man-of-Wars, bottling them up and bringing them home to slap on the faces of those Antifa retards at their next event in San Diego or Phoenix. The ER doc's would have a hell of a time trying to determine just what was the cause of those nasty painful welts. Probably end up labeling them WMD's.
We did see dozens of Black-Tailed Jackrabbits out there, as along that shore they are genuine "beach bunnies". They are concentrated around the thickets of Pickle Weed that prefers to grow on the mud flats in the upper tidal zone. They have scrapes dug under many of those plants where they take refuge from the summer heat by using the shade of the plant and the damp mud to keep their bellies cool. We saw many tracks heading way out onto the mud where they appeared to be searching out the big clumps of beached Sargasso Weed. Seems odd that a dry land desert vegetarian would seek a marine algae for food. Inland from the beach the landscape is uninhabitable for most critters, just dry dusty salty flats with nothing taller than six inches evident.
We did see a sizeable occupied warren of a colony of the giant Desert Kangaroo Rat out there with many fresh tracks from the night before along with some distinctive Sidewinder Rattlesnake tracks, the kind that bit the beautiful blondie belly dancer from Lobo Del Mar a few years back. In fact their compound is only fifteen miles north from where we were. On that day, she told me that something stuck here in the hand when she was turning a water valve. I took a look at the wound and made a bee line to the valve, coiled up right below it was a small, maybe ten inch Sidewinder Rattlesnake. The events that followed that moment would be a good subject for a good low budget sci-fy film.
So Jerry, waddya think? I'm sure the guys in the RANTS down below will have something to spout about.
JJ
I was planning on finding a few fresh Portuguese Man-of-Wars, bottling them up and bringing them home to slap on the faces of those Antifa retards at their next event in San Diego or Phoenix. The ER doc's would have a hell of a time trying to determine just what was the cause of those nasty painful welts. Probably end up labeling them WMD's.
We did see dozens of Black-Tailed Jackrabbits out there, as along that shore they are genuine "beach bunnies". They are concentrated around the thickets of Pickle Weed that prefers to grow on the mud flats in the upper tidal zone. They have scrapes dug under many of those plants where they take refuge from the summer heat by using the shade of the plant and the damp mud to keep their bellies cool. We saw many tracks heading way out onto the mud where they appeared to be searching out the big clumps of beached Sargasso Weed. Seems odd that a dry land desert vegetarian would seek a marine algae for food. Inland from the beach the landscape is uninhabitable for most critters, just dry dusty salty flats with nothing taller than six inches evident.
We did see a sizeable occupied warren of a colony of the giant Desert Kangaroo Rat out there with many fresh tracks from the night before along with some distinctive Sidewinder Rattlesnake tracks, the kind that bit the beautiful blondie belly dancer from Lobo Del Mar a few years back. In fact their compound is only fifteen miles north from where we were. On that day, she told me that something stuck here in the hand when she was turning a water valve. I took a look at the wound and made a bee line to the valve, coiled up right below it was a small, maybe ten inch Sidewinder Rattlesnake. The events that followed that moment would be a good subject for a good low budget sci-fy film.
So Jerry, waddya think? I'm sure the guys in the RANTS down below will have something to spout about.
JJ
mexicoruss
Lovin it in RP!
Well sort of related....I was coming down the coastal highway from El Golfo today and the truck in front of me ---mind you a very large dump truck was leaking lots of sea water out of the bak and I presume that sucker was full of the big white jellies. The van stunk immediately and I had to was it when I got home. Gross!
Those dump trucks having been dropping lots of those jelly fish on the highway at the 4 way to Laguna del Mar on the way to El Golfo. Locals are pissed off about the stench and the hygiene hazard because nobody comes to clean it up. It's pretty gross after they get squished by car tires.