Sally
Beach Fanatic
By Gabriel Tynes
Visitors to the beach in the past several weeks may have noticed a second flag flying beneath the red, yellow, or green banners that indicate surf conditions. It?s the color purple, and it is indicative of some painful pests drifting in area waters.
Once or twice each year, jellyfish are likely to invade the coast of the northern Gulf. One species in particular, the sea nettle, has been of particular abundance.
Along with a painful and unprovoked sting, sea nettles may cause people of vulnerable health to experience breathing difficulties or go into anaphylactic shock.
Dr. Monty Graham, senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, has been monitoring jellyfish blooms in the Gulf for the past six years. Until Hurricane Katrina last summer, he had an army of volunteers on the Florida, Alabama and Mississippi coasts that regularly searched for and reported on jellyfish movements.
?One of the things we were trying to determine is if jellyfish tend to stay in a specific area or propagate,? Graham said.
Graham said so many people were displaced by recent storms that the jellyfish monitoring program has since stalled. However, he continues to maintain a website of data collected from the program and emphasizes the importance of the information.
?We have noticed that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when or where jellyfish blooms may occur,? Graham said. ?Yet we are finding some consistency with water temperatures, salinity, the availability of food and sea currents.?
Graham said that since 2000, the variation of annual the jellyfish bloom has been on either one extreme or the other.
?Sometimes it seems like they are thick enough to walk on and other times we don?t see them at all,? Graham said.
As unsettling as the current jellyfish infestation may be, the sea nettle is one of the least threatening species of jellyfish in the Gulf. The Portuguese man-o-war, which floats upon the surface like a balloon, is small but packs a potent poison tentacle that can weaken even the healthiest of beachgoers. The lions? mane jellyfish, which only appears locally during colder winters ? can also deliver a painful dose of stinging cells. However, the box jellyfish, known as the sea wasp, can deliver a sting that lasts for several days.
The Australian variety of the box jelly has reportedly killed more than 70 people. Still, Australian swimmers have been known to survive meetings with the box jellyfish by dousing their wounds with vinegar. Also, it has been reported that the box jelly?s stinging cells cannot penetrate lycra wetsuits or pantyhose.
Vinegar may not work the same on all jellyfish stings, and in some in can actually increase the number of cells that are released from the tentacle. The benefits of home remedies such as meat tenderizer and lemon juice have not scientifi cally been proven to be effective, yet can work for some.
While larger fish and sea turtles often feed on jellyfi sh, Graham could not speak as to whether the decrease in their natural predators have resulted in higher numbers in years past. When the purple fl ag fl ies, he said, there is little anyone can do to completely avoid jellyfi sh except stay out of the water. However, local lifeguards are trained and prepared to treat jellyfi sh stings, and often the pain will disappear within hours.
Visitors to the beach in the past several weeks may have noticed a second flag flying beneath the red, yellow, or green banners that indicate surf conditions. It?s the color purple, and it is indicative of some painful pests drifting in area waters.
Once or twice each year, jellyfish are likely to invade the coast of the northern Gulf. One species in particular, the sea nettle, has been of particular abundance.
Along with a painful and unprovoked sting, sea nettles may cause people of vulnerable health to experience breathing difficulties or go into anaphylactic shock.
Dr. Monty Graham, senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, has been monitoring jellyfish blooms in the Gulf for the past six years. Until Hurricane Katrina last summer, he had an army of volunteers on the Florida, Alabama and Mississippi coasts that regularly searched for and reported on jellyfish movements.
?One of the things we were trying to determine is if jellyfish tend to stay in a specific area or propagate,? Graham said.
Graham said so many people were displaced by recent storms that the jellyfish monitoring program has since stalled. However, he continues to maintain a website of data collected from the program and emphasizes the importance of the information.
?We have noticed that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when or where jellyfish blooms may occur,? Graham said. ?Yet we are finding some consistency with water temperatures, salinity, the availability of food and sea currents.?
Graham said that since 2000, the variation of annual the jellyfish bloom has been on either one extreme or the other.
?Sometimes it seems like they are thick enough to walk on and other times we don?t see them at all,? Graham said.
As unsettling as the current jellyfish infestation may be, the sea nettle is one of the least threatening species of jellyfish in the Gulf. The Portuguese man-o-war, which floats upon the surface like a balloon, is small but packs a potent poison tentacle that can weaken even the healthiest of beachgoers. The lions? mane jellyfish, which only appears locally during colder winters ? can also deliver a painful dose of stinging cells. However, the box jellyfish, known as the sea wasp, can deliver a sting that lasts for several days.
The Australian variety of the box jelly has reportedly killed more than 70 people. Still, Australian swimmers have been known to survive meetings with the box jellyfish by dousing their wounds with vinegar. Also, it has been reported that the box jelly?s stinging cells cannot penetrate lycra wetsuits or pantyhose.
Vinegar may not work the same on all jellyfish stings, and in some in can actually increase the number of cells that are released from the tentacle. The benefits of home remedies such as meat tenderizer and lemon juice have not scientifi cally been proven to be effective, yet can work for some.
While larger fish and sea turtles often feed on jellyfi sh, Graham could not speak as to whether the decrease in their natural predators have resulted in higher numbers in years past. When the purple fl ag fl ies, he said, there is little anyone can do to completely avoid jellyfi sh except stay out of the water. However, local lifeguards are trained and prepared to treat jellyfi sh stings, and often the pain will disappear within hours.