Hanging with the Jellies

Pelagia Nocticula  or the common mauve stinger is the name of the jellyfish that have been invading the coasts of Gibraltar this summer. While not an issue for us so far this visit, this morning we witnessed a large number of them on our daily morning walk along the beach.

We met up with an elderly couple in their swim gear standing in the tide with a neon yellow net. For about ten minutes we helped him scoop the jellies out of the water "Dos jellyfish--aqui!" it was actually kind of entertaining. The older woman was explaining that her son got stung by one in the belly and it was quite painful. I have to wonder if that is why so many of them have large corpulent bellies (and I would well-protected as well! ;P )
 The jellyfish are small little creatures, almost a deep amber-brown color, transculent and oh so very exquisite. I call them "the bumblebee of the sea". The treatment for jellyfish from the Gib Chronicle is as follows:

• do not rinse with freshwater. This seems to exacerbate the venom and causes it to burn faster.
• rinse with a mild acetic acid solution or white vinegar. (I carry a bottle of vinegar in our beach bag) 
• the stinger is like a bee stinger. It will continue to sting as long as it is intact in the skin. They recommend spraying it with shaving cream and then scraping it off with a credit card, or if it is large enough, using tweezers to pull it out. Either method recommends dousing with vinegar afterwards. 
• Do not have Joey pee on the sting site. While making for great sitcom material  

it is in fact an urban legend. Urinating on your friend will only embarrass the bunch of you.

In the end the best thing to do is find your nearest lifeguard station and get their help. Most stations will have a  medicated spray that they can use to dull the pain.

I won't chance a look at the ingredients though. It might in fact be lifeguard wee. ;)

Let's relive one of the best scenes of the classic Finding Nemo as I close out this blog for today :D


http://vimeo.com/8402214

We are driving to Jew's Gate and climbing The Steps. Our landlord is wanting his nephew to join us, but Beloved is feeling a little provincial today. No visitors. The children wrote J thank you notes for his help on the Lower St Michael's hike.  They are very sweet. I was not to read Tank's (my son's) note though. He is very private about that sort of stuff...