Jelly Fish

[TraceyUk]

Just a word of warning there are loads of jelly fish down in P.Morelos right now. My son was stung as soon as he entered the sea. Only then did I notice loads of kids collecting them in plastic cups.I have to say they were beautiful pink ones- could have watched them swim for hours.
Rgds
Tracey

[RiverGirl]

Oh yeah, it's jellyfish season soon isn't it...

[Kris in Cancun]

How long is "Jellyfish Season" here? My nieces are coming to visit this summer and are excited to hit the beach...

[RiverGirl]

Seems like 4 weeks or so. Cunspin is the expert on these water things, let's see what she says.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Kris in Cancun

How long is "Jellyfish Season" here? My nieces are coming to visit this summer and are excited to hit the beach...

See:
http://www.sealicecancun.com/cancunsealiceseason.htm

You can tell by the appalling design that it's one of my other sites :wink:

[Kris in Cancun]

Originally Posted by Steve

See:
http://www.sealicecancun.com/cancunsealiceseason.htm

You can tell by the appalling design that it's one of my other sites :wink:

Ewww and yuck...that's a pretty icky name for them. :roll:

Thanks for the info!

[cunspin]

Actually the jellyfish are less of a nuisance than the Sea lice, Sea lice are invisible and get in and under your suit jellyfish only can sting where your skin is uncovered. we were at the beach at Morelos on Sunday and there were a lot of jellyfish kids where trapping them left and right.
Last year was a weird season due to the hurricane there was actually less Sea lice than previous years. This season so far we have had a lot of wind which has made for very rough seas and current it may shorten the season a bit.

[Drewbert]

Probably a good time to note that "sea lice" aren't "lice", but are actually jellyfish larvae.

Still itchy though.

[cunspin]

I am posting this again so that newbies can be informed.
Since there seems to be alot of interest in Sea Lice I thought I would post information from the
Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
What is the Thimble Jellyfish?
This marine animal is a small jellyfish resembling a thimble that measures about 1" in diameter and is conspicuosly mottled with dark brown markings. This Jellyfish, together with corals, seaanemones, hydeoids and hydras are included in a group of animals without skeletons named cnidarians. One characteristic of this important group is that they have numerous stinging cells called nematocystswhich act as microscopic syringes to inject toxins when touched.
Along the Mexican Caribbean coast dense aggregations of the THIMBLE JELLYFISH appear everyyear from late January to early June. The Jellyfish occur in 3 swimmming stages as juveniles or ephrae, as adults and as larvae or planulae. They are transported by winds and currents to other areas on the time scale of a few hours to a few days.
WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR A WARNING ON THE THIMBLE JELLYFISH?
Accidental contact with this jellyfish causes a skinrash known as seabathers eruption.
This dermatites is characterized by the acute appearance of small itchy erythmas that may, in some cases, evolve into pustules. This eruption occures predominantly on body areas that are covered by the bathing suit or subjected to pressure or rubbing, such as armpits, neck, groinand inner thighs.In some cases the dermatites includes chills, fever nausea, headache and weakness, particularly in children. Symptoms don not appear untill hours (1 to 24) after leaving the water.Because of this , Seabathers eruption is sometimes confused with viral gastroenterites or varicella (chicken pox). The lesions usually persist from a few days to weeks, after wich they spontaneously heal.
SOME PREVENTATIVE MEASURES.
Perons with histories of allergies should avoid swimming in waters infested with Thimble Jellyfish. Swimmers who must risk exposure should avoid the use of T'shirts as they trap the thimble Jellyfish between skin and clothing thus increasing the severity of the reaction. After exposure to seawater, swimmers SHOULD NOT SHOWER WITH FRESH WATER. Fresh water triggers the stinging cells. It is advisable to change out of bathing suit as soon as possible and apply vinegar wich neitralizes the nematocysts that cling to the skin but have not yet released their toxins. Bathing suits should be thouroghly washed with detergent as symptoms may recur if contaminated suits that were poorly washed are re-worn.
Is there Treatment?
When the lesions are minimal the application of creams and lotions to reduce the rash is recommended . The use of antihystamines is often helpful but should not be done without consulting a Physician. In severe cases topical and systemic steroids may be used but always under Medical supervisiopn. IMORTANT,
DO NOT SCRATCH the affected areas because this can lead to skin infections.

[CancunCouple77]

We bought this stuff called SafeSea last year. Anyone know if it works as well as they claim?
Anything named lice has to be bad. EWWW