Nai Harn Beach Closed Due To Bluebottle Infestation And High Surf.

[NomadJoe]

As reported by an online news source. This morning I spotted 7 bluebottles there, but the beach appeared open. A few red flags about but people were still wading in. A lifeguard told me that one person was treated for bluebottle stings yesterday. Last year when this happened they were spotted at several other beaches as well. Be careful if you plan to go for a swim.

[amyb]

i don't think the beach is necessarily closed as reported. i had friends surfing their yesterday afternoon. but you are right to say be careful if you are going for a swim! i hate jelly fish stings!

[NomadJoe]

They aren't actually jellyfish, they are a colony of symbiotic creatures, but the sting and treatment is similar.

I went to Kata Beach today. I walked the length of the beach and counted over 50 blue bottles on the sand and several more were washing ashore. Most were very small. Body's about 2-3cm, tentacles 10-20cm, some larger, and saw one in the water that eventually washed ashore that had a body about 10cm with tentacles almost 2m long. One of the lifeguards I showed them to had never seen one before and grabbed one before being told by the other guard that they are "laun mak". I ran into PMBC staff that said they were there to check on the bluebottle situation. They took some pictures of the ones I had collected and are bringing them back to their labs. Guards there said they hadn't received any reports of stings yet, so that's good. When I figure out how to get pictures of my camera I will post them.

Edited May 29, 2012 by NomadJoe

[Guest]

They aren't actually jellyfish, they are a colony of symbiotic creatures, but the sting and treatment is similar.

I went to Kata Beach today. I walked the length of the beach and counted over 50 blue bottles on the sand and several more were washing ashore. Most were very small. Body's about 2-3cm, tentacles 10-20cm, some larger, and saw one in the water that eventually washed ashore that had a body about 10cm with tentacles almost 2m long. One of the lifeguards I showed them to had never seen one before and grabbed one before being told by the other guard that they are "laun mak". I ran into PMBC staff that said they were there to check on the bluebottle situation. They took some pictures of the ones I had collected and are bringing them back to their labs. Guards there said they hadn't received any reports of stings yet, so that's good. When I figure out how to get pictures of my camera I will post them.

How poisonous these fellows are? And means "laun"? Hurt?

[NomadJoe]

They aren't actually jellyfish, they are a colony of symbiotic creatures, but the sting and treatment is similar.

I went to Kata Beach today. I walked the length of the beach and counted over 50 blue bottles on the sand and several more were washing ashore. Most were very small. Body's about 2-3cm, tentacles 10-20cm, some larger, and saw one in the water that eventually washed ashore that had a body about 10cm with tentacles almost 2m long. One of the lifeguards I showed them to had never seen one before and grabbed one before being told by the other guard that they are "laun mak". I ran into PMBC staff that said they were there to check on the bluebottle situation. They took some pictures of the ones I had collected and are bringing them back to their labs. Guards there said they hadn't received any reports of stings yet, so that's good. When I figure out how to get pictures of my camera I will post them.

How poisonous these fellows are? And means "laun"? Hurt?

Laun means "hot", I think he was probably going for "burning." They are pretty nasty. Extremely painful stings. Several deaths have been attributed to them. A sting can be particularly dangerous to people with heart conditions. Some people develop symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Occasionally people have a severe allergic reaction and die from anaphylactic shock.

There are lots of different suggestions on what the best way to treat a blue bottle sting, (also called a Portuguese man o'war) but initially rinsing with sea water and then submerging in hot water seems to be the latest suggestion. Some report vinegar making it worse. If you have any other symptoms like nausea, rapid heard beat, difficulty breathing, get emergency medical assistance immediately.

Pics from Kata Beach today.

Here is what they can do:

[cloudhopper]

Very informative post thanks Joe.

I seem to remember a post about box jellies being (very occasionally) seen in previous SW monsoons on both coasts as well.

Good idea to swim with a dive skin.

edit - we saw huge numbers of a large jellyfish being netted a month ago by fishermen all over Phangnga Bay so maybe conditions for them are favorable...

Edited May 29, 2012 by cloudhopper

[amyb]

thanks for the post and the pics, joe!

[Guest]

Thanks Nomad. The name Portuguese man o'war is familiar, but bluebottle? Just out of curiosity is bluebottle Australian name for the specimen?

I have once seen an pretty bad jellyfish attack. DM trainee got stung to his whole body by jellyfish. He was transferred to a local clinic where he was given vinegar and later on ice (and some medicine, cortisone?) for the pain. Hes whole body was shaking uncontrolled, maybe due both pain and cold. It took few days to get him back to water again.

[NomadJoe]

Yeah, the Aussies call them blue bottles because that is kind of what they look like floating along. They also look like a Portuguese Man O'War ship.

.

Edited May 29, 2012 by NomadJoe

[stevehaigh]

i though Portuguese Man O'Wars were huge, about 2m dia?

i was confused about the blue bottle name too, i thought it was about flies at first.

those ausis took a perfectly good language and totally f'ed with it

Edited May 30, 2012 by stevehaigh

[NomadJoe]

i though Portuguese Man O'Wars were huge, about 2m dia?

i was confused about the blue bottle name too, i thought it was about flies at first.

those ausis took a perfectly good language and totally f'ed with it

Yeah there is a fly that goes by the same name. http://en.wikipedia....Blue_bottle_fly

I've never heard of a PMO'W/BB float being 2m in dia. Everything I have read suggests the largest floats to be about 15-20cm. In photo's it is hard to distinguish scale which is why I put my shoe in the picture, otherwise our imaginations take over a bit. I thought they were much bigger too until I saw one. The tentacles can be up to 10m long. One reference I read cited up to 50m!

I didn't know this but apparently there are at least two different species of PMO'W's/BB's, Physalia utriculus and Physalia physalis. The one we see in the Indian and Pacific oceans appears to be P. physalis due to it's smaller size and the fact that, at least with all the BB's I have seen in Phuket, have just one long retractable tentacle, whereas P. utriculus, which is more common in the Atlantic, has several shorter tentacles, but a larger float up to 30cm. The Atlantic's P. Utriculus is reportedly a much worse sting than our P. physalis.

Physalia utriculus

Physalia physalis:

[grumpyoldman]

Ambulance yesterday Nai Harn, 4:00pm.

Does anyone know, due to surf or bad reaction to a sting by one of these guys?

[NomadJoe]

Ambulance yesterday Nai Harn, 4:00pm.

Does anyone know, due to surf or bad reaction to a sting by one of these guys?

Actually sounded more like 3 ambulances over a span of about 30 minutes. Continuous sirens for quite a while. No idea but I did mention it to Alan at PW during a discussion about the bluebottles. He said he was going to look into it. My guess is some issue with the 100's of kids at the lake doing the boat racing. The other day I saw one girl pass out during the dragon boat race and have to be rescued by the Navy SAR guys.

My second guess was that is was Scotty's funeral procession, but that is supposed to be today.

[stevehaigh]

Physalia physalis:looks like something that would be more at home on a beach in pattaya, or patong too i guess

[Farma]

Great pics from the beach NomadJoe

I had the misfortune to have ones of these bluebottles wrap itself around my upper leg. As a 10 year old the pain was intense. I still remember lying in bed for a few days looking at one leg swollen to twice the size of the other.

As an adult i still take care and stay out of the water if they're around. I find the sting doesn't harm me on hardened areas of skin like hands or feet. The old first aid remedy was to urinate or rub sand on the stung area. University research in Oz found the best results came from vinegar.

[NomadJoe]

Great pics from the beach NomadJoe

I had the misfortune to have ones of these bluebottles wrap itself around my upper leg. As a 10 year old the pain was intense. I still remember lying in bed for a few days looking at one leg swollen to twice the size of the other.

As an adult i still take care and stay out of the water if they're around. I find the sting doesn't harm me on hardened areas of skin like hands or feet. The old first aid remedy was to urinate or rub sand on the stung area. University research in Oz found the best results came from vinegar.

The latest studies seem to indicate that vinegar can exacerbate things. You'll find that the most recent advice by professionals is to not to use vinegar or urine, but sea water. Then once all the nematocysts are gone, immerse in/apply hot water. Rubbing the stung area is universally discouraged.

[Farma]

I live and learn. It's good to see an update on the treatment.

It appears vinegar is the best treatment for stingers and jellyfish apart from Bluebottles.

[NomadJoe]

I live and learn. It's good to see an update on the treatment.

It appears vinegar is the best treatment for stingers and jellyfish apart from Bluebottles.

I think a lot of people are treated with vinegar anyway because they don't know what it is that stung them and just assume it's a jellyfish. It seems pretty clear from comments made to PG by one of the head lifeguards on Kata today that they think blue bottles are jellyfish. He was quoted today as saying vinegar is the treatment, so if you are stung in Phuket you will probably be treated with vinegar. Better than urine I suppose.