Jellyfish.

I was at Llandudno at the weekend and there were loads of jelly fish washed up on the beach and swimming close to the shoreline. Is anywhere else on the British coastline suffering from a jellyfish infestation at the moment?

Comments

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭

    none on the Sussex coast

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Yes there were quite a few on the south cornish coast this weekend.
  • I saw a few on the beach on the Wirral at the weekend. They tend to be congregated in certain areas - I guess the current has taken them there and then there will be 100s of meters of empty beach.
  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    Jelly fish are common off the Irish south coast and at Dover at the moment.

    The white ones (Moon Jellies) are generally harmless, although they may feel unpleseant to swim through.

    The blue and orange/tan/brown ones (Blue and Lion's Main) are less common and they are the ones that sting from threads that can be a metre or so long.  The stings are painful in a similar way to nettles but are gone within about 10 min unless you are one of the very few unluky ones who have an allergic reaction to them.

    I've been swimming with all three types all week and have been stung a dozen or so times.  Honestly they are nothing to fear.

    There are some more dangerous types of jellies but they tend to prefer more tropical water and to my knowledge none have been seen around the UK coastline this year.

  • swittleswittle ✭✭✭

    ye, cougie, similar sightings on Crosby & Waterloo beaches.  Utterly beached, or do they survive, courtesy of the next tide?

  • I was swimming off Tenby on Monday (that's 7 days ago) the sea was dead calm and toasty warm. The first time around the bay I saw none. The second time around I was solo, and saw about half a dozen. Some brown ones about 6" across, and some bright pink/purple ones 8" across with 4 identifiable round cells in them. Very pretty, but....

    Last year in Sicily I got stung by a small one that left a permanent burn mark on my arm like a tattoo for 2 weeks. It hurt for several days. Needless to say I don't like them.

  • My girlfriend was swimming at the weekend and I counted over 30 stings on her after she'd been for a swim. These were brown ones.

  • YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND???????????? Sorry to hear about those 30 stings onn your right hand...

  • I think that I'll be wearing a full wetsuit when I swim in an area with jellyfish.

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    I most certainly will NOT be wearing a wetsuit.  If you think that brushes with jelly fish are bad, wait until you get one down insid your wetsuit and can't get it out again.  I've seen it happen

  • on the bright side, apparently it's a sign of clean water.

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭

    Large pink/purple ones in the med, really hurt. I reacted badly to it, but there again the imprint of the thing did cover the whole shoulder blade area and the worst bit were the threads that went down the spine from above the bra strap area to lower back. Never left a beach so quick to get to medical help.

    Tips I have heard are that vinegar on a small one takes the sting away, so nip to the beach café and use it. If no vinegar and in an quiet place, pee on it or get someone else to pee on it dependant on where the blighter stings you.

    I can only vouch for the vinegar cure to be worth trying on a small one, but it must be done within 15 minutes or so.

  • After the 15 minutes you'll be needing anthisan or even anti-histamine tablets.

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭

    Blisters, I found that the vinegar worked OK, but when I got back to the apartment at the end of the day I did the anthisan and anti histamine tablet for the small one.

    The large sting involved a steroid based cream and anti histamine tablets for a week.

  • SuperCazSuperCaz ✭✭✭

    Some people can have bad reactions to jelly fish, but generally you are better off leaving the sting alone.  The tendrils leave behind on your skin lots of little capsules containing the irritant.  The capsules are very weak and can break easily.  If you are in the water then they will break and be washed away.  If you rub or scratch the sting then you will be bursting the capules and rubbing them into your skin, making it worse.

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