Deadly Jellyfish

Buzz Mills · Jul 28, 2006

I'm watching the Discovery Channel and they are showing a program about the VERY DEADLY irragonji (phonetc spelling) jellyfish. This jellyfish is the size of a fingernail and the tenacles are the thickness of a hair. There is no known antidote to its sting, and a sting is easily fatal. The doctor, (who was featured, has been studying them for years, trying to warn the world of their existannce) and his girlfriend? both got stung, she unknowingly had a piece of broken tenacle on her dving glove, and got stung on the boat, on her wrist, and the sting was treated with vinegar immediately (which stops additional stings); she was in the hospital for two weeks, under the heaviest doasge of morphine, and she suffered immensely the entire two weeks. He got stung on his lip, and it was treated immediately with vinegar. He was somewhat luckier; he managed to recover in two days, but he too was under the heaviest allowed morphine dose and he was still in total agony.

They mentioned these are headed for Australia---I hope to be able to find more info.

Is this scary, or what??

Buzz Mills · Jul 29, 2006

Buzzm1 said:
I'm watching the Discovery Channel and they are showing a program about the VERY DEADLY irragonji (phonetc spelling) jellyfish. This jellyfish is the size of a fingernail and the tenacles are the thickness of a hair. There is no known antidote to its sting, and a sting is easily fatal. The doctor, (who was featured, has been studying them for years, trying to warn the world of their existannce) and his girlfriend? both got stung, she unknowingly had a piece of broken tenacle on her dving glove, and got stung on the boat, on her wrist, and the sting was treated with vinegar immediately (which stops additional stings); she was in the hospital for two weeks, under the heaviest doasge of morphine, and she suffered immensely the entire two weeks. He got stung on his lip, and it was treated immediately with vinegar. He was somewhat luckier; he managed to recover in two days, but he too was under the heaviest allowed morphine dose and he was still in total agony.

They mentioned these are headed for Australia---I hope to be able to find more info.

Is this scary, or what??

The Deadly Irukandji Jellyfish

This is the Irukandji jellyfish, Carukua barnesi, which inhabits the northern Australian waters in a wide sweeping arc from Exmouth in Western Australia to Gladstone in Queensland.

The Irukandji jellyfish is found in these waters during the jellyfish season, roughly from the end of October to early May.

Deaths in Queensland
This deadly species of jellyfish came to prominence in early 2002 when a 58-year-old British tourist, Richard Jordon, was stung while swimming near Hamilton Island, off the coast of Queensland, in January. He died several days later.

Then a 34-year-old French tourist, Robert Gonzalez, was reported to have been similarly stung and was rushed to hospital, where he recovered.

In April 2002, a 44-year-old American tourist, Robert King, died after a brush with the Irukandji jellyfish off Port Douglas in Queensland.

http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/practicalinfo/a/irukandji.htm

curious1 · Jul 31, 2006

Oh that is just scary. If they were bigger and you could see them you might be able to avoid them, but the fact that they are so small just makes it hard to see them.

kgeaux · Jul 31, 2006

I saw that program also. Man, that is a scary little jellyfish. I think I remember that its venom is 100 times more potent than a cobra and 1000 more potent than a tarantula. A nasty critter. It can sting from all parts of its body, too, not just the tentacles.

Jeana (DP) · Jul 31, 2006

Buzzm1 said:
I'm watching the Discovery Channel and they are showing a program about the VERY DEADLY irragonji (phonetc spelling) jellyfish. This jellyfish is the size of a fingernail and the tenacles are the thickness of a hair. There is no known antidote to its sting, and a sting is easily fatal. The doctor, (who was featured, has been studying them for years, trying to warn the world of their existannce) and his girlfriend? both got stung, she unknowingly had a piece of broken tenacle on her dving glove, and got stung on the boat, on her wrist, and the sting was treated with vinegar immediately (which stops additional stings); she was in the hospital for two weeks, under the heaviest doasge of morphine, and she suffered immensely the entire two weeks. He got stung on his lip, and it was treated immediately with vinegar. He was somewhat luckier; he managed to recover in two days, but he too was under the heaviest allowed morphine dose and he was still in total agony.

They mentioned these are headed for Australia---I hope to be able to find more info.

Is this scary, or what??

I've seen that one too! I can't believe they went back in the water after that!

Buzz Mills · Aug 1, 2006

Jeana (DP) said:
I've seen that one too! I can't believe they went back in the water after that!

Let's hope they never make it here; I wouldn't ever go in the water again--JAWS has nothing on these guys.

Deadly Jellyfish

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