Why Jelly stings WORSE under bathing suit???

[aquacat8]

Last time I was stung by a jellyfish it was BAD and it got me on my bum under my bikini, and I’ve noticed this before: it’s almost as if the jellyfish tentacles stick to the fabric and sting right through it, worse than on the bare skin nearby. It’s very frustrating as there are a lot of jellyfish at my local beach right now! What is going on? I thought a dive skin, which is essentially the same fabric as my bathing suit, I was supposed to protect against jellyfish stings?

 

[boulderjohn]

Are you sure it was a jellyfish sting through the clothing? Did you see it happen?

If not, there is another explanation.

A Florida Beach Is Warning Swimmers About Sea Lice. Here's How to Protect Yourself Against This Red, Itchy Rash

 

[seeker242]

Are you sure it was a jellyfish sting through the clothing? Did you see it happen?

If not, there is another explanation.

A Florida Beach Is Warning Swimmers About Sea Lice. Here's How to Protect Yourself Against This Red, Itchy Rash

Which are not actually "sea lice", but just small jellyfish. The freshly hatched larvae of thimble jellyfish specifically.

 

[aquacat8]

Oh I know it was a jellyfish, I felt the cloud of tentacles, I was doing my usual idiot maneuver of free diving down about 10 feet in our zero vis water, And I felt the cloud of tentacles, and I turned as quickly as possible, and it stung me on the ass and the back of my legs. This happened another time where a bathing suit top got stung, and it didn’t rinse it out well enough or something, and the next time I put it on it stung me again.

 

[aquacat8]

Supposedly the stingers can’t survive out of saltwater, but I really think that bathing suit top had a few viable stingers left in it.

 

[aquacat8]

I suppose it could’ve been a cloud of baby Jellies, Truthfully I did not actually see it.

 

[Russjstewart]

Just a theory, but the sting is caused by the nematocysts on the jelly fish tentacles discharging. If there are any trapped between the fabric of your bikini and your skin, the rubbing of the fabric may cause more nematocysts to discharge.

 

[aquacat8]

That makes sense. It did sting me right through my bathing suit, but afterwards I pulled my bathing suit down and tried to rub them off, That may have been a mistake. However on the initial staying it was much worse where the fabric was then on the thigh right nearby.

 

[Nick Steele]

...and I turned as quickly as possible, and it stung me on the ass and the back of my legs...

They were trying to tell you to get out of here before you got hurt

Yeah any nematocysts can sting for quite awhile. There some times when fishing off piers we’ll reel up lines covered in cut up jelly fish if not careful to get it off and you forget to clean the line before the next trip you will get stung when casting and get stung.

In college we made sea anmeones fire their nematocysts during a feeding session. Got to watch them pass along the food to their mouths and we counted the fired nematocysts. It was cool and they are shaped like tiny little harpoons so I can see them getting caught in fabric and then the friction helping inflict pain.

 

[aquacat8]

Yeah I would have been better swimming naked… Except, err, now that I think about it, maybe not!