Deadly Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish 'likely' off NI

Monday, 11 January 2010

Sightings of whales, dolphins and basking sharks off the Northern Ireland coast are becoming more common.

But a new visitor to the Irish Sea has been raising eyebrows in the Republic of Ireland, and it is also quite likely to be in waters nearer home.

The potentially deadly Portuguese Man O' War (physalia physalis), has been seen off the coast of County Louth, with 30 sightings reported to marine researchers last year, stretching from Wexford to the more northerly county.

In 2007, a swarm of Mauve Stinger jellyfish wiped out 100,000 salmon when they swamped a fish farm off Glenarm in County Antrim.

Since then, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has been working with Queen's University, Belfast, to carry out small scale surveys of jellyfish activity, concentrating on the Mauve Stingers.

The stinger and Man O' War are normally found further offshore and researchers believe it is likely that a combination of warmer seas and prevailing winds, are responsible for both 'stingers' being in the Irish Sea during the autumn of 2009.

"To date, there have been no confirmed sightings of the potentially lethal Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish around Northern Ireland," an NIEA spokesperson said.

"However, during the latter part of 2009 there were several reported sightings from the Isle of Man and County Louth suggesting that it is likely that small numbers have also been in Northern Ireland waters.

"These sightings peaked during September and October with further reports during November and December."

The Mauve Stinger is a very small orange or purple jellyfish, while the Portuguese Man O' War has a very distinctive shape, including a bottle shaped gas bladder and stinging tentacles that can be several metres long.

The Portuguese Man O' War is not a true jellyfish as such, but a siphonophore - a single creature made up of a colony of organisms.

Both have powerful stings that can potentially produce a severe reaction and the NIEA said people should avoid touching them and seek medical advice if stung.

There are at least eight species of jellyfish which are regularly recorded in Northern Ireland waters, including Moon, Lion's Mane, Compass, Root Mouth, By-the-Wind-Sailor, Blue, Portuguese Man O' War and Mauve Stinger.

Half of the species produce powerful stings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8451544.stm

'Best Job' winner stung by deadly jellyfish

December 30, 2009

Ben Southall - the winner of a competition for the best job in the world - has been stung by a deadly jellyfish.

The 34-year-old Brit was just days away from the end of his six month stint at "caretaker" of Hamilton Island in Queensland when he was stung by a deadly Irukandji jellyfish.

Though tiny (they measure just 2cm) the Irukandji are extremely venomous and stings can often result in people being hospitalised, and are sometimes fatal.

Ben had been on a 'hard-earned break' from his £75,000, six-month job when he was stung while jetsking.

Given that his normal duties include scuba-diving to check on marine life and writing a blog about his experiences we are finding it a bit hard to feel sorry for him.
Speaking of the jellyfish sting Ben said: "I’ve spent nearly six months here in the tropical paradise that is Queensland and so far I thought I’d done particularly well at avoiding any contact with any of the dangerous critters that consider this part of the world their home.

"I was enjoying a post Christmas jetski session with some friends at a quiet beach on Hamilton Island and as I climbed off the back of the ski and onto the beach felt a small bee-like sting on my forearm."

Feeling hot, sweaty, sick and having a headache Ben went to see a doctor who knew instantly what it was and straight away put him on a course of treatment.

" I had a couple of injections which immediately took away the uncomfortable pain I was feeling and I slipped into a comfortable sleep," Ben added.

"I’d had a minor brush with what can be a very serious jellyfish and has led to people being hospitalised for a number of days, my slight knock was enough to tell me that it’s not something to be messed around with and I really should have been wearing a full stinger suit."

http://newslite.tv/2009/12/30/best-job-winner-stung-by-deadl.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newslite+%28news%3Alite.tv%29