Lessons From a Jellyfish

In a recent swimming expedition in Puerto Prinsesa City (Palawan), I got acquainted with a fierce sea creature – the jellyfish. And this is one encounter I will remember quite painfully.

Prior to this, I was never really threatened by a jellyfish. I knew, however, that it is dangerous to get close to one after watching a scene in Finding Nemo where Merlin panicked when he found himself and Dory amid a swarm of jellyfish in the deep sea. But is this thing really that harmful?

I screamed ouch several times learning the answer. The pain of a jellyfish sting can be compared to a thousand needles pressing against your skin with a bit of electric shock. I was lucky only a few of its stingers caught my arms. My girlfriend was not, it got almost her entire right arm bruised.

Just like any experience, it taught me some lessons that I would like to share with everyone to serve as a caution or reminder whenever you swim in a beach or anywhere in the sea where a jellyfish could be present.

• Be wary of things floating in the water whether you are in the shallow or deep portion of the sea. As jellyfish are almost transparent, they blend with the water. Experts say jellyfish usually swim in the deep but during the summer when the water is warm, they swim towards the shore. Wear goggles so you could see better when you are swimming.

• Do not wear bracelets, anklets, or necklace with shiny or colorful beads when you are swimming. This has no scientific basis, but I just surmised that perhaps the jellyfish came near us because it saw the tiny beads of our anklets and bracelets as food. FYI: Jellyfish have up to 32 eyes called ocelli.

If and when you are attacked by a jellyfish (hope this does not happen, of course). Here are the things that you should do:

• Do your best to stay calm when you feel the sting of a jellyfish. I was advised by a boatman that you should not make sudden movements as the stingers would just smoothly run through your skin like satin. If you jerk uncontrollably (which would be the normal initial reaction), the stingers would cling tightly to your skin and you would feel more the pain.

• When you got yourself out of the water and you still have stingers attached to your skin, the best thing to do is to pour lukewarm water on the affected area to remove them. The warm temperature will help loosen the grip of the stingers on your skin. You have heard of course about pee being a first aid cure  for jellyfish sting. Yes it is because pee has a warm temperature. So if there is no lukewarm water available, find someone who can pee on you. Seriously.

• Use vinegar to disinfect the affected area of your skin. But do this when you have removed all the stingers. Because according to the trusted boatman, the stingers would seep into your skin as a reaction to vinegar.

• See a doctor immediately if the sting caused considerable harm on you. The doctor would give you further treatment and recommend what medicines to take to ease the pain and prevent any infection. Some jellyfish have venomous stingers.

• If there is swelling aside from the bruises, doctors say it is just water that seeped through your skin. You would be advised to keep that area (arms or legs in particular) raised so that the water would be distributed in your body.

After this encounter with the jellyfish, I will never see or think of it the same way again. I never saw it in the first place and might still not see it if I get near one again (fingers crossed). But at least now I know more about jellyfish, including the fact that it is spelled with one word.

This is one hell of a lesson learned.