CNN----Cozumel Jellyfish - Comments?

[sbaggs]

I can vouch for vinegar working, having used it when I was stung. Felt much relief afterwards! I prefer that over the method of someone peeing on the sting!

 

[DandyDon]

I am surprised to see this thread still in the Coz forum, citing an article about Mediterranean JFs. I failed to also mention that in my various trips there I have only seen a flock of JFs once that I can recall, and they were pretty harmless I think - but pretty. I did a stride off of 10 high deck off of NC once and hit a bad one with my forehead. Hurt a little during the dive, but a lot once out. Left a scab for a month - nice war story: "Oh I was diving WWII wrecks in the Gulf Stream offshore of the east end of Hiway 70" - a federal hiway that runs thru coast to coast, thru Plainview TX, and within 3 blocks of my house.

The jellyfish that Don is referring to are the small thimble jellies that are here for a month or two in the spring. However, a good divemaster will not have you surface in a congregation of them...and a good captain will not drop you in on top of them.

They are not poisonous and are more of an irritation if you get stung by them and they do not have tentacles. Vinegar DOES actually work to relieve the sting and is in fact what we use for the thimble jelly stings and has been "approved" by DAN. The sting and welts (in extreme cases) usually don't last more than an hour unless you are extra sensitive to them.

Christi lives, dives, and knows Cozumel with the very best, so her opinions would certainly carry more implied validity than mine ever will. I don't think I have ever noticed the Thimbles; if they were there when I was, I guess the crew did indeed keep me out of them. Some of the best crews in N.American/Caribbean waters operate at Coz. But then I have tough, Texican skin so I might not notice them anyway.

I can't believe that DAN's Alert Diver magazine's May/June articles are not available online yet?! The following two months issues of advertising are! Dang. We discussed the article in Dive Medicine forum here.

I can vouch for vinegar working, having used it when I was stung. Felt much relief afterwards! I prefer that over the method of someone peeing on the sting!

I don't know where that urine treatment myth started? Perhaps a joke among surfers that someone took seriously as one would expect locals who live & play there to know these things; I dunno - it was a dumb joke anyway. Even tho Discovery Channel may have repeated it once, it's easy to find many sites that debunk the myth, like Ocean Life - Jellyfish sting urine cure "It is a myth that urine cures jellyfish sting or can help with jellyfish stings. In reality, Jellyfish sting urine cure can cause more harm to the jellyfish sting victim." That article also suggests vinegar as the DAN revelation is very recent and not yet widely accepted.

 

[stangd1909]

I was just there last week diving, and we didn't see any.

 

[betsyinczm]

The urine recommendation has, to my knowledge, always been for sea urchin wounds and never for jelly fish stings. And Dandy Don, although I never wanted to bring up your saying that vinegar is NOT for JF stings, I can only speak for thimbles which cause a hellish itching the next day...that kind of itching that makes you keep happily scratching even as you are drawing blood!......during that season that Christi mentioned we all do our best to avoid surfacing in the midst of them........unfortunately, usually everyone is already on the boat when the last to get on (that would be me or any DM who doesn't scurry up first.....hhahaha) finds themselves in the middle of masses of them.....and SO, that's when I whip out my giant bottle of vinegar and douse all uncovered areas........ta daaaa......no more issues.....I know nothing about what to do for other jellyfish, but be sure that vinegar is what it takes for the thimbles.........and be glad you've never seen any.............Betsy

 

[MikeGT]

Sorry to get back so late... I really wanted to know if the Cozumel population of JF could ever approach the levels that cause problems in Italy.

I have never experienced any difficulty with JF in Cozumel probably for the reasons that Christi mentioned! Besides, I have never seen large JF in Cozumel. Are there any?

However, given global warming, excessive fishing, etc. could this happen to Cozumel? I feel that the Cozumel National Park offers some protection. However, what happens on the mainland and else ware could cause some problems in the future.

The bottom line is what can WE do now so that others can enjoy Santa Rosa et al in the future?

 

[DandyDon]

There seems to have been a problem at one time last year: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/189952-latest-word-jellies.html

I've never seen anything but a flock of what looked like Moon JFs but I could certainly be wrong on that ID.

 

[Christi]

There seems to have been a problem at one time last year: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/189952-latest-word-jellies.html

I've never seen anything but a flock of what looked like Moon JFs but I could certainly be wrong on that ID.

Yeh, we had a fluke two week period last year with moon jellies...but I haven't personally seen any since and haven't had any reports of any.

 

[DandyDon]

Yeh, we had a fluke two week period last year with moon jellies...but I haven't personally seen any since and haven't had any reports of any.

Moons last year? There was this suggestion then...

I believe they are Warty Jellyfish Jellyfish invade San Pedro, Belize News, San Pedro Sun and they will get your attention. It took me a while to realize that the ones with short (<1 inch) purple tentacles and the ones with long tentacles (>1 meter) were the same just with tentacles withdrawn. Most dives had few to none. But on some dives they were numerous and concentrated in the rest stop zone. I was amusing myself at one reststop tapping them on the dome to make them withdraw their tentacles when I saw some long slender tentacles inches in front of me. The initial sting is startling, but it quickly subsides to tolerable and the red welts disappear in a few hours. Those that drift too close to the top of the reef get caught in the gorgonians which appear to be eating them. So if you are feeling lucky, you could always try feeding the gorgonians.

The Moons I thot I saw once....

From Moon Jellyfish

The name moon jellyfish can refer to both a specific species Aurelia aurita but can also refer to the group of jellyfish to which all Moon Jelly fish belong to. New species of Moon jelly fish are found on a regular basis.

Moon Jellyfish are found in the entire Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic to Mexico and in the on the northern hemisphere part of the Pacific Ocean. They can grow to a size of up to 18 inches / 45 cm in diameter. Moon jelly fish are the most common type of jelly fish in the Atlantic ocean.

The feed on microscopic planktonic organisms which they catch with the help of about 250 sticky tentacles that hangs from the underside of their disc. The food is the carried by the moon jellyfish 4 oral arms to their mouth where it is consumed. Their disc that looks like an umbrella is divided into eight equally large parts. Another distinct feature of moon jellyfish is that you can se four purple horseshoes like shapes on their disc if you look at them from above. Their tentacles become pink during second part of the summer/fall. This usually happen in August or September and is a result of their reproduction and the larvae that is developing on their underside at this time of the year.

Moon jelly fish are primarily seen in the summer time when the currents carry them close to the beaches and often wash them ashore. Moon jelly fish in the water is not a problem if you want to bath and moon jellyfish can normally be handled without being stung. Sensitive people can however experience that they causes a small burning sensation. This sensation does however not last long and as earlier mentioned only a few people experience this discomfort due to sting from moon jellyfish.

At any rate, JFs are not at all common, and with the Cozumel current wouldn't last long anyway...

 

[sharky60]

I took these last year on a safety stop, this little guy's "body" only being about the size of a quarter, but those purple tentacles could still cause quite a nasty sting...been there...don't want to do it again. The water was FULL of small plankton animals of all kinds a year ago April, including several types of juvinille jellies.

Yikes! between me and the boat!!!

Some other diver's including my wife saw a hawksbill with one haning out of it's mouth on the same dive. Jelly fish are a main food source for sea turtles.

 

[DandyDon]

I took these last year on a safety stop, this little guy's "body" only being about the size of a quarter, but those purple tentacles could still cause quite a nasty sting...been there...don't want to do it again. The water was FULL of small plankton animals of all kinds a year ago April, including several types of juvinille jellies.

Some other diver's including my wife saw a hawksbill with one haning out of it's mouth on the same dive. Jelly fish are a main food source for sea turtles.

Nice that they are rare in Coz waters. I'm glad.

I don't know much about turtles, not how to identify different kinds. I should study that this week. I've booked us in Playa del Carmer in part to dive Tortugas reef (or what's left of it after the ship wreck and questionable salvage work) where I hope we again see dozens of them grazing on the sponges. The Coz operator I dive with doesn't like to go over there unless the channel is especially smooth: "If we can clearly see the PDC building." It doesn't take much a wave to block them on the horizon.

What turtles eat depends on the variety I think, and whom you ask. One source...
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215242/sea_turtles.htm

Hawksbill sea turtles are omnivores. That means they eat both meat and plants. Hawksbills eat sponges, jellyfish, sea urchins, mollusks, crustaceans, tunicates, shrimps, and squids. Hawksbill turtles will also feed on dead marine animals, grasses, other plants from the bottom of the ocean, and grass beds at different parts of the ocean.

From another: The Big Blue Bus - Creature Feature - Marine Reptiles - The Sea Turtles!

Loggerhead sea turtles are mostly carnivorous and they feed on shellfish that live on the ocean floor. These turtles eat horseshoe crabs, clams, mussels, and other invertebrates. The powerful jaws of this species are designed to help them easily crush the hard shell of shellfish. Atlantic ridleys and Pacific ridleys sea turtles are also carnivores. Like the loggerheads, the ridleys have strong jaws that help them to crush and grind shellfish such as crabs, clams, mussels, and shrimp. The ridleys also like to eat fish, sea urchins, squid and jellyfish.

And: GREEN SEA TURTLES

Green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, get their name from the color of their body fat, which is green from the algae or limu they eat. Adult green sea turtles are herbivores, meaning that they eat only plants, and therefore do not pose a threat to any other marine animals.

And of course there are several other species - all endangered. :sad:

The biggest one I've seen yet was on a Texas Flower Gardens oil rig. Big boat moored to it, 30+ divers swimming around inside, but this one was not shy at all - came on into the midst. Looked about the size of a VW Bug, but that might have been exaggerated in my mind. :rolleys: I guess it was coming in to graze on the invertebrates growing on the rig.