Jelly clumps at Phuket's Nai Harn beach 'not dangerous'

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Jelly clumps at Phuket's Nai Harn beach 'not dangerous'
Prapaporn Jitmaneeyaphan


See? Not dangerous. Some of the tiny jellies to be found at Naiharn Beach.

PHUKET: -- Tourists, please don’t freak out – the yucky, slimy and sometimes itchy clumps floating in the water off Naiharn Beach on Christmas Day (December 25) have been identified as tiny, more or less harmless jellyfish.

Photos of the clumps were sent to The Phuket News by Nattha Thepbamrung who said she and friends came across them while swimming off Naiharn Beach. They finally decided to get out of the water because they did not know what the slippery clumps were, but the jellyfish left their skin very itchy.

“They looked like tapioca,” she said.

Local people who talked with The Phuket News said the jellies were nothing unusual. Song Sa-ingthong, who owns a snack bar at the beach, said, “They are jellyfish. I don’t know what kind they are, but they come every year between November and December.

“I have lived and worked here for about 20 years and I have never heard of anyone being seriously injured by them. Some people are allergic, and they get a rash on the skin that looks like mosquito bites. It doesn’t burn like some kinds of jellyfish.

“As far as I know there is no remedy. It take a while to heal. It depends.”

Scientists at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre were not available to help with identification, but Thanes Munnoy, Director of the Phuket Marine and Coastal Resources Office, gave some eminently sensible advice.

“If people go to beach and see something they can’t identify, they shouldn’t touch it. If they are really curious, they should scoop it up – not with their bare hands – and show it to an expert [such as a beach lifeguard].”

One of those experts, Jula Nontree, chief lifeguard at Naiharn Beach, confirmed Mr Song’s opinion. “It is jellyfish. I forget what it is called, but it is harmless. If people touch it and are allergic, they will get a rash, but it’s not serious – it will go away.

“The ones that people really need to stay away from is the Bluebottle [also known as the Portuguese Man o’ War] which we see here quite often and which are much more dangerous. The sting from one of these can cause death if someone is badly stung and is also allergic. It looks like a jelly balloon with tentacles below.”

Bluebottles – which are not strictly speaking jellyfish but a symbiotic community of four different animals – have tentacles up to two metres long, or more, attached to a translucent bluish balloon that floats on the surface.

“You have to watch out for the tentacles; that’s where the poisonous stingers are. If you find the tentacles wrapped around you or someone else, don’t use your hands to remove them. Use a stick. Don’t rub the tentacles onto or drag them across the skin because that will result in more stings.”

Mr Jula said after the tentacles have been removed, the wounds should be flooded with vinegar and the victim observed to see whether he or she needs to be taken to hospital.

“If you find one that is lying on the beach looking dead you still should not touch it because it can still sting you.”

He said the Bluebottles come seasonally between November and December. Generally, they appear about two days a month, each day about four times, he said.

Mr Jula told The Phuket News that the lifeguards have first aid kits – including vinegar – at their watch tower on Naiharn Beach.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/jelly-clumps-at-phukets-nai-harn-beach-%E2%80%98not-dangerous%E2%80%99-43751.php


-- Phuket News 2013-12-31

[MK1]

As per the lifeguard approach to first aid with this problem, I would recommend all to take a bottle of vinegar at all times, to include as part the essential beach kit, since this problem is not exclusive to Nai Harn beach alone and also authorities are reluctant to admit other locations at this time of year.

Edited December 31, 2013 by MK1

[NomadJoe]

Vinegar is now pretty much universally accepted as not the correct treatment for bluebottle Portuguese/Man-O-War stings.

And I wouldn't call the Thai beach lifeguards "experts" at anything but renting their jet ski's and playing sepak tekraw. Sadly the lifeguards I spoke to here still suggest vinegar for bluebottles. The correct treatment is flushing with sea water, carefully picking or scraping any remaining tentacles off, and for the pain, submersion in hot water, as hot as the patient can tolerate, or if no hot water is available, then cold packs. Even with jelly fish, vinegar doesn't treat the pain as such, it only prevents further nymatocsysts (microscopic venom filled harpoons) from firing.

Edited December 31, 2013 by NomadJoe

[DoctorG]

Sorry, vinegar is still the most acceptable first-aid treatment for PortMoW.

[Soupdragon]

Sorry, vinegar is still the most acceptable first-aid treatment for PortMoW.

Can you provide any further information or links to your sources please ?

I have actually been stung by a POW and vinegar was totally ineffective as a treatment. What did work was alcohol, not taken internally but the type you find in most good first aid kits.

I am also skeptical of the expertise of the jet ski boys, those actually look like fish egg sacs not jelly fish.

Edited January 1, 2014 by Soupdragon

[Bikkii]

It is not these jellyfish that sting you but the pre-pubescant sea lice that is what stings. They only sting when they get caught in clothing.

these have been a menace now for a couple of weeks in the North of the island.