Phobic of needles? Try jellyfish!

[Skybird]

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn9799&feedId=online-news_rss20

iiiik!

[Konovalov]

Back home at my local beach I used to wear a wet suit always at a certain specific time of the summer when our beach would get attacked by blue bottles (a type of jellyfish). Perhaps I should wear a wetsuit also when I need a Tetanus injection then in future. :88)

[The Avon Lady]

Then there are snails (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_sc/snail_venom).

Tough choices. :doh:

[HunterICX]

:huh: Yikes, Nah, I stick with the needles....

[Konovalov]

Then there are snails (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_sc/snail_venom).

Tough choices. :doh:

I'd take the jellyfish over the cone snail. We were taught at a young age not to pick them up as they fire a tiny harpoon like device out of the pointy end of the shell that can leave you feeling quite ill and in substantial pain.

[Skybird]

Then there are snails (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_sc/snail_venom).

Tough choices. :doh:

I'd take the jellyfish over the cone snail. We were taught at a young age not to pick them up as they fire a tiny harpoon like device out of the pointy end of the shell that can leave you feeling quite ill and in substantial pain.
It can even kill, they said in a docu. But a marvellous construction that weapon is.
I take the snail over the jellyfish, though. Some jellyfish can fire through a neoprene diving suit. Many are almost invisible in open water. Some even can orient themselves and engage and actively hunt a victim. Several are not only extremely painful, leaving terrible scars, but do kill within minutes. They had pictures of people that looked as if they had fallen into molten, hot metal, or something like that, and centimeter-deep acid wounds that made their limbs and body look like a moon surface. Beautiful, fascinating, but frightening creatures. Diving with sharks would make me less nervous.

[The Avon Lady]

I take the snail over the jellyfish, though. Some jellyfish can fire through a neoprene diving suit. Many are almost invisible in open water. Some even can orient themselves and engage and actively hunt a victim. Several are not only extremely painful, leaving terrible scars, but do kill within minutes. They had pictures of people that looked as if they had fallen into molten, hot metal, or something like that, and centimeter-deep acid wounds that made their limbs and body look like a moon surface. Beautiful, fascinating, but frightening creatures.
Sounds like Australia's box jellyfish. :dead:

[Konovalov]

Yeah, It sounds like the Box. But they are only found up on our northeast coast and thankfully I have never had the major inconvenience of coming across one. Certainly I haven't heard of them down in Sydney where I lived or even more so further south such as Melbourne. If you live up north on the tropics and swim then best take a bottle of vinegar just in case. The acid in it apprently helps treat Box jellyfish stings. For most normal types of jellyfish with a sting a wetsuit has done the trick for me.

[snowsub]

http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/project-net/dma/images/seawasp03a.jpg
Lovely little fella isn't he..... Not

Quote...
The rapid onset of systemic symptoms after major jellyfish envenoming by C. fleckeri suggests that venom is "most probably introduced directly into blood vessels". Postmortem evidence from the last C. fleckeri fatality demonstrated nematocyst barbs penetrating the vascular dermis.
C. fleckeri venom has haemolytic, lethal, myotoxic and dermonecrotic effects. Current evidence suggests that the venom toxins are proteinaceous and target specific organs. Monoclonal antibodies capable of neutralising C. fleckeri-induced haemolysis did not protect against the lethal effects of venom. Several myotoxins, with molecular weights of about 600 kDa and 150 kDa, have been reported in C fleckeri venom. These toxins showed significant lethality in a mouse model of envenomation and may play a role in human cardiotoxicity. We speculate that these and other, as yet unidentified, proteins cause ion flux and transmitter release through altering cell membrane permeability, either through specific interactions with ion-channels or receptors or through non-specific interactions with cell membranes.

Charmers...

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/178_01_060103/bai10411_fm-2.gif

And thank god I don't live in that region :88)