THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507080396
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELE SNIPE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Scott Fiske, 12, showed off his two jellyfish stings as if they were rites of passage.
``It's still stinging a little bit,'' he said, more proud than pained after an encounter with one of the summertime pests at Ocean View.
To beach dwellers, jellyfish stings are common during the summer months. They're generally not serious and are seldom reported.
But this year, there probably will be more of them. Scientists are predicting a ``bumper crop'' of jellyfish.
Sand is often used to soothe stings, but Brad Barber, Ocean View's chief lifeguard, said his staff tells victims not to use sand because it could irritate the skin.
``They should run fresh water on it to get the poison out,'' he said. ``And don't rub it.''
Fresh water is exactly what camp counselor Stacie Welch used on several Camp Willoughby campers who were stung during a recent outing at the beach.
For her campers, who are between 6 and 13 years old, ``it's just a 10-minute sting,'' Welch said. ``It's not enough pain to make them want to sit out of the water.''
Other home remedies include a mixture of meat tenderizer and water, ammonia and water or plain rubbing alcohol.
``These tend to neutralize the poison,'' said Capt. Kent Hinnant of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Team.
Occasionally, swimmers who are more sensitive to stings have adverse reactions.
``It could be quite serious if someone is out in the water,'' said Dr. Dorothy Spangenberg, a research professor in the department of pathology at Eastern Virginia Medical School. ``Some people go into shock, but this is rare.''
It's been two years since Hinnant has seen an emergency case resulting from a jellyfish sting. But when it happened, ``it was treated like any other critical situation, with an ambulance and a trip to the hospital,'' he said.
Chief lifeguard Brad Barber said in his five years at Ocean View Beach he has not encountered any serious incidents.
``I see people overreact, but there have been no emergency cases,'' he said.
Hinnant agreed. ``Little kids get upset because they don't understand what's happened,'' he said. ``Parents don't know what to do, so they want us to calm them down.''
In the Chesapeake Bay area, stinging nettles - also known as sea nettles - and moon jellies are common. The sea nettle has an umbrella generally less than 6 inches in diameter and tentacles as long as 3 feet. The moon jelly has a clover-shaped design on its umbrella, which may exceed 15 inches in diameter, but its tentacles are short.
The tentacles, which carry the stinging cells, help the jellyfish capture and carry food. They feed on tiny organisms called plankton, which are paralyzed by the toxins and carried to the mouth by a mucus-like substance, Spangenberg said.
Associate professor Jennifer Percell at the Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies at the University of Maryland, said fluctuations in the amount of jellyfish are effected by the Bay's salinity.
``They need a certain amount of salinity to live,'' she said, explaining that last year's abundance of rain and snowfall caused fresh water from the Susquehanna River to flow into the Bay, creating a low salinity environment.
As for this year's prediction: Percell said higher salinity waters and low flow from the river, due to low rain and snowfall, have created conditions for ``a bumper crop of jellyfish.''
Although there may be a lot of them, the creatures cannot survive on the beach. But their stingers can, Spangenberg warned.
``If someone picks up what looks like a dead jellyfish, they could get stung,'' she said.
During the Fourth of July weekend, there were no reports of jellyfish stings at Virginia Beach. But at Ocean View, beachgoers were not as lucky.
``They're products of nature,'' said Barber, who had four or five complaints from swimmers. ``There's not much we can do.''
But Scott's brother, Brian Fiske, 15, had a suggestion. ``They need to put jellyfish nets out there,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: The Audubon Society photos
Sea nettles, top, and moon jellies, right, are the jellyfish common
to the Chesapeake Bay. They use the stinging cells in their tenacles
to paralyze the plankton they eat.
by CNB