Box Jellyfish

[santelmo]

ive read on the internet that box jellyfish are found around Australia and here in the Philippines. True enough, we've spotted a few here in Palawan. 1 when my mom was boarding a pump boat. good thing she saw it first before making another step. it was right in front of her. a small one (the size of a thumb) but still deady.

the second one was found at snake island....some boat men/ guides took it out of the water... according to our guide/ boat man it was as big as his thigh...pretty huge..and deadly..

locally box jellyfish are termed as Salabay.

we've also seen a lot of moon jellyfish and other gross looking ones but im much concerned w/ box jelly. i hate jellyfish... yuck... they look pretty underwater but still..... eeewww! hahaha better bring a lot of vinegar....

[seasnake]

When I was in the Bahamas last year, there were a few moon jellyfish and also what we call Sea Gooseberry's ... little round jellyfish that look like translucent grapes. Up here we don't notice either variety stinging at all. But people were getting out of the water down there with huge painful welts on their bodies. I didn't seem to get stung at all, although I'm sure I contacted them many times. The Gooseberry's for sure were impossible to avoid. Could they have been getting stung from something else, or can you build up an immunity to the nematocysts?

[santelmo]

eeew... ive seen 1 or 2 of those. although i did not see much movement from them. according to some articles comb jellies/ sea-gooseberries have non-poisonous tentacles and they don't sting... maybe they got stung by other kinds of jellies like the sea nettle?

i wonder....w/c is more deadly the box jelly, the Portuguese man-of-war or a huge 8 foot Lion's Mane jelly? yuck...

i do see a lot of lotions that prevent jelly stings being sold in the market particularly in dive shops. most common is sting-goes? i wonder if it really works?

[rubber chicken]

Diving in West Australia, you get used to seeing jellyfish, especially in the Swan River in Perth. Mostly Moon and Brown spotted jellies they can be the most common thing that you'll see. We do get a variety of Box jelly here but its sting is relatively mild, a bit like a nettle sting, if that means anything to you.
Over on Australia's east coast, the Sea Wasp and Irkunji (sp?) can be major problems. The venom itself is not what kills you but the excruciating pain can cause you to go into shock or convulse and you drown. In areas of N. Queensland special "Stinger suits" are commonly sold in beachfront shops. These are basically all over pantyhose which provide enough of a barrier between yourself and the stinging cells to eliminate the danger.
It may not fit the macho, adventerous diver image to be seen pulling pantyhose on before a dive but its a useful excuse when your wife finds them in the back of the car.!

[Sarah]

Well, being isn't very macho either!

I have never heard of such suits....got to find some photos now....

[santelmo]

ive seen some pics of those overall pantyhose suits....hahaha they look funny. i prefer the full suits made from rash guard fabric...

[PinayDiver]

i hate jellyfish... yuck... they look pretty underwater but still..... eeewww! hahaha better bring a lot of vinegar....

So imagine us, four females just surfaced from Monad Shoal in the Visayas, waiting by the side of the outrigger boat for our turn to climb up the ladder. Every now and then, we'd plant our masked faces back into the water to locate just where these two (two pics of each) were in reference to us.

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We were of course convinced that they kept getting nearer. There were screams. Fins were getting tossed back into the boat. There was a mad scramble up. The local dive master, name's Martin, was left holding my friend Benita's camera, and so took these souvenir pics. Good thing too, because now I can appreciate their lovely form at leisure

[santelmo]

hahahahaha yeeeeeeee!

nice shots though

[SoCalDiveGirl]

The local dive master, name's Martin, was left holding my friend Benita's camera, and so took these souvenir pics. Good thing too, because now I can appreciate their lovely form at leisure

Nice pics! Hehe, I understand the haste in getting back on the boat though!!!

[PinayDiver]

Nice pics! Hehe, I understand the haste in getting back on the boat though!!!

Meanwhile...back at the office, non-divers ribbed me on the idea that on that very trip, we "bravely" sought out toothy thresher sharks but went jelly on the knees over what they perceived as a much smaller creature (who, really, was at the mercy of where the currents took it). But then again, someone who I thought was my friend had to point out (a parallel contradiction), they already know that I don't mind, say, rapelling over the side of a ship (an adventure race dare) but I have to be escorted across Manila's streets haha.