Shorncliffe Jellyfish
A month ago I complained about the wildlife in Brisbane digging up the garden. Looking for some peace and quiet – escape from the loud mouthed crows – I took a 30 minute trip north of Brisbane to the seaside suburb of Shorncliffe.
Shorncliffe beach park
Shorncliffe is a very nice quiet place to be. One could almost say a retirement village on the beach.
So I went for a walkabout looking for camp site and a place to cool off.
Pier looking back towards the beach
Initially I figured the pier would be perfect. The sea water and necessary shade to kill the 35+ degrees all within meters of each other.
And what did I find in floating in seawater – also enjoying the sun?
Blue bottle jellyfish
In Australia and New Zealand, this jellyfish is called the “blue bottle” due to its color. In other countries, they called it the “Portuguese Man o War“.
This apparently lightly armed jellyfish normally has 6-inch (15 centimeter) tentacles but they can grow to around 10 meters long !!! This growth is being caused by the warming of the oceans.
These tentacles are filled with a long string of barbed hooks. Once wrapped around the meal, the poison is released paralysing the prey.
If a human gets snagged, it releases the poison using nematocysts.
To reduce the pain, don’t touch the area because that releases more poison. The best thing to do is wash the area with some vinegar.
Now the blue bottle jellyfish might sting you and that will definitely hurt, however this “Portuguese Man o War” has a deadly cousin which conveniently is also a blue color!!!
The Box Jellyfish – alias Chironex Fleckeri - has the potential to inflict fatal stings. Once stung, the pain is so excruciating that you’ll probably go into shock and drown before reaching the beach. You have virtually no chance of surviving this venomous sting.
Sea filled with an armada of blue bottle jellyfish
I posted the YouTube video here. The video ain’t that great but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s impossible to know if a box jellyfish is hidden within the jellyfish armada.
So here I am – the Brush Turkey ripping up the garden, the crows damaging my hearing and the jellyfish hogging the pool – still want to visit?
