Did A Piece of Seaweed Really Just Sting Me?
By
pam
As I was walking along the gulf’s edge looking somewhat like this beachcomber… minding my own business looking for shells like this…
I was enjoying all of the sites around me like this BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON…
Then I decided to take a little dip in the water to change the view and look for other interesting treasures in the gulf.
AAACCCKKKK! I got stung! Ouch! Something just brushed up on my ankle and stung me! Geez! All I see is a piece of SEAWEED. I got stung by something that looks like SEAWEED floating in the Gulf Of Mexico? So I picked it up to see what it was. Hmmmm… it didn’t burn me this time.
I put it on the sand to take this next photo… then I saw it move. It’s alive! The “seaweed” is still alive! Maybe it’s not a plant after all. Clark reminded me that he’s been stung by this same thing before but I never got a good picture of it.
So this time, I had to do some research to find out what the heck this thing is since I did get a good picture of it this time. I thumbed through all of my books and found what I think this thing that stung me was a
HYDROID. This is part of the reproductive cycle of a JELLYFISH! OMG This is so cool! Hydroids are
colonies of tiny stinging jellies, best described as hundreds of inverted
JELLYFISH attached to a feather- or seaweed-like base. This, my friends, is what stung me. This is what I believe is a POLYPOID which will invert at some time and turn into a JELLYFISH. It’s a JELLYFISH in its pupal stage. It’s this long tube looking thing with tentacles on the end in this next picture.
Yall remember I’m not a scientist. So what I read from the book “Reef Creatures” by Humann and DeLoach is “Hydroids are usually colonial, and have a branched skeleton that generally grows in patterns resembling feathers or ferns. Individual polyps are attached to this structure“. So it looks to me like this whole structure is the HYDROID and there is my little mean POLYP (attached) that stung me even before he grows into big goopy JELLYFISH. I’m just learning this as I go so I’ve added links (wherever you see bolded/highlighted words) to the sites I’ve researched as well. I just think this is so awesome to know what to look for if this happens again so I thought you would enjoy knowing all of this too.
My sting (which felt like a burn and seemed worse in the beginning because it startled me) only lasted for about 30 minutes and the rash went away soon after but it made me VERY curious. And guess what… I got a video of this POLYP (or POLYPOID) moving its tentacles. Ready? don’t worry, it won’t sting you too.
Even if you get stung by a POLYP on a HYDROID one day… it goes away quickly and I really wouldn’t even call it “hurting”, it just caused some discomfort. No biggie. It was well worth it to learn all of this cool stuff!
It’s a little creepy for me, but it is very interesting! Who would have thought?
Very cool! It DOES look like seaweed that I have seen. I guess I will be careful not to go near it, just in case! I saw quite a few jellies on Blind Pass, Manasota Key, today. Is this the time of the year they reproduce?
Pam,
Maybe that little polyp thought you were sweet and just wanted a little bite. I am not so sure it was a sting!!
Tim
Heehee
Is the dredger gone?
No Mike, unfortunately it’s still there… And I just went to blind pass 10 minutes ago to see how the shelling was. The beach is a little eroded so we didn’t see any new shells on either side. Just pulled up to. Bowmans. If there is anything here I’ll write a post
Isn’t that strange — and interesting!
Wow! That is amazing and a good thing to know! I’d never heard of this before and I’ve been in the water several times with stuff that I thought was just seaweed. Better take a closer look next time !!
I got stung a couple of times the last time we were there! I thought it was the seaweed too, but just decided some Jelly tentacles must have been attached….guess I was right….sorta!!! Thanks for the info! You are just full of great information for all of us beach girl wanta bes!!!
Glad you’re ok. That last glob looks like a heart.
I thought so too! I thought maybe the jelly fish community was saying sorry that I got stung. haha
Two weeks ago now we were at the Blind Pass area above the dredging shelling and I went out into the water and ran into this big jelly fish with floating tinacles all long and different lengths. We have been to the area for about 12 times now and have Never seen a jelly fish. We have seen some of those gobs of clear stuff on the beach and probably that seaweed stuff but never a large jelly fish with extended tenicles.
First for everything. Needless to say, I backed out.
Jamie Tate
Glad to hear your ok Pam. If your ever get stung by a jellyfish the best thing to use on the area is ammonia. It take away the pain instantly. I had a friend who lived in Bermuda and she said when people got stung by man of war jellyfish they would go to the hospital and they used ammonia on the area that was stung.
Also works on bee stings once you remove the stringer and other bug bites.
Thank You for the Dredging update Pam. Mike
Just when you were ready to go in the water…….
How interesting!!! I never woudl have guessed. Thank you Pam for the great info. I’m glad you are a curious person. We learn so much more that way.
As usual, FASCINATING! I love learning new things about my favorite place from you, Pam!
Thank you form the info! I was on ft Myers beach yesterday and there were lots of waves and whitecaps… It was really stirred up in the water!
Wow, I can’t believe this! First of all, I’m bummed that I didn’t get to run into you when I was on Sanibel last week, Pam. The crazy thing is that I have been scouring the web for live seaweed since I was there and couldn’t identify what I saw! It was a piece of seaweed that was alive! It was up by the surface, and by the time I fumbled around and pulled my phone out to video him, he swam to the bottom. But he was flapping his little arms and was clearly alive. Thank goodness I didn’t try to pick him up!
As always, Pammy to the rescue with an answer!
And the black crowned night heron, Charlie got a few good shots of one down by the lighthouse and it made his day! Wonder if it’s the same guy!
I ran into one of those colonies yesterday, too. So, these big, mostly clear, globs on the beaches this morning are grown up jelly fish?
Wow, that explains it!! When I was in the water by the dredging outflow pipe last month, I kept thinking I was being stung by something. The water was so cloudy that I could not see what it was and when I would scoop, all I would come up with was something looking like seaweed. I kept telling myself I was just crazy. Thanks for letting me know I’m not!
That’s really interesting! It seems like I get stung by all sorts of stuff while snorkeling… sometimes not-so-mysterious jellyfish tentacles, and sometimes mysterious stuff that I never even see.
Wow the Hydroid was cool ! I feel like I have probably seen them but had no idea what to look for. Great post thanks
Floyd
Cool Pam! I knew about the polypoid stage of jellyfish development, but didn’t know they had stinging cells like the adult form. Very cool. Thanks Pam. Sorry you had to get hurt to teach us.
Very interesting Pam! Sorry you got stung, but it’s great to see this and hear about it. I never really knew anything much about hydroids before. Thanks for the cool pictures!
The mystery is solved. I got stung several times last August when I was staying at Holiday Inn. The sting felt like not quite a bee but more than a fire ant. It stopped stinging after about 30 minutes. We are seeing quite a few jellyfish in the water here on Manasota Key right now too.
Fascinating, Pam! If I got stung, I don’t think I’d be brave enough to reach into the water to find out what it was. I’d skeedaddle outta there
Thanks for sharing your newest critter adventure. I’ve had the good fortune of being on the gulf in our boat in the midst of a swarm of big jelly fish. It was so awesome to see them pulsating merrily along. I could see the innards and all! They were so thick, I don’t think I could have put my hand in the water anywhere without touching one. Great show!
~m
Sorry for the sting. Information is interesting. Love the video, but when I see you reach down and touch I think – are you crazy? Just asking to get it again!
Thank you for posting this. My brother, sister in-law and I were in the water at Fort Myers beach. I was the first one to feel a small sting then a few minutes later my sister in-law felt one and then my brother. My sister in-law had been stung in the past by a jellyfish so she didn’t think it was that…after reading your description here I’m certain this is what got us!
Love your blog!
My husband and I both got stung by these a couple of times when we were there in September. I thought it was a jellyfish at first but it didn’t seem to hurt as much as it should have– he is the one who discovered that it was the “seaweed” in the water. I knew it couldn’t be seaweed but I didn’t know what it was until now. We both had rashes around our ankles for about a week after.
This happened to me today at Gulfside. I thought I was crazy. Thanks for making me feel less like a lunatic!