Jellyfish are some of the most dangerous creatures in the ocean. Just touching the wrong one can lead to a swift death.
And now, these people are swimming with millions of them. But how? And what would happen if you chose to swim with millions of jellyfish?
What does a jellyfish sting feel like? Is it possible to swim with them and live to tell the tale? And can peeing on a sting save your life?
The jellyfish’s venomous sting is extremely dangerous. Just brushing against a jellyfish can result in incredible pain.
Their stings harm over 150 million people each year. If you were to jump into a pool full of jellyfish, is there any way you could avoid their deadly stings?
As soon as you jumped into the pool full of jellyfish, you’d immediately want to check your surroundings to see what you’re dealing with. Jellyfish come in all shapes and sizes. They range from the lion’s mane jellyfish that’s longer than a blue whale to the moon jellyfish that’s just 5cm (2 in) long. Heh. Kind of cute.
Many of the jellyfish you might experience here would move with the current of the water. After all, jellyfish don’t have brains so they don’t have much control over their movement.
But some species, like the box jellyfish, are much more dangerous. These jellyfish are different as they hunt their prey.
But regardless of whether or not this jellyfish is hunting you, jumping in a pool full of thousands of them would definitely end up with you getting stung.
And if you goe stung, regardless of the type of jellyfish, you would immediately feel a burning or pricking sensation. This sting would eventually turn purple, then start to itch and swell.
Over time, the pain would spread beyond the sting site and reach other parts of your body. But if this is all that happened, you’d be pretty lucky.
At this point, you could get out of the pool, remove the tentacles from your skin, and the sting would heal itself over time. You might need some pain killers, but overall you’d survive. And no, don’t try to pee on it. The water and sodium in your urine can agitate the stinger, causing it to spread even more venom.
But you ending up with just a little sting is incredibly unlikely in this scenario. Especially if you’re swimming with box jellyfish. Their sting wouldn’t just bring you some pain and irritation. If you were swimming and happened to be stung by one of these, it could make you feel weak, drowsy, and you might even start to have muscle spasms.
This could easily cause you to drown. And if more jellyfish came to sting you, you’d be feeling incredible pain all over your body.
Someone else would need to pull you out of the water, as you’d most likely pass out at this point. And as soon as you got out of the pool, you’d need to immediately get antivenom in your system.
That’s because a box jellyfish sting releases a venom that can stop your heart in as little as 5 minutes. And if you didn’t get the antivenom in time, you could die.
So it’s safe to say that swimming with jellyfish could be incredibly dangerous. But this isn’t the only way swimming with jellyfish has to end up. There’s a place in Palau known as Jellyfish Lake that has hundreds of thousands of golden jellyfish swimming about.
This species is completely safe to swim with as their sting is so mild you might not even notice it. So if you happened to fall into this lake with all these jellyfish, you’d be completely fine. In fact, it would be a beautiful and breathtaking experience.
Subscribe to What-If on YouTube or follow the show on Facebook Watch.
Sources
- “How Many Litres Are In My Pool? – North West Wholesale Swimming Pool & Spas”. 2020. northwestwholesale.com.
- “Converting A Swimming Pool To Grow Fish – The Permaculture Research Institute”. 2020. The Permaculture Research Institute.
- “Everything To Know About Keeping Jellyfish”. Phife, Michael. 2020. reefnation.com.
- “How Do Jellyfish Sting? | Smithsonian Ocean”. 2020. ocean.si.edu.
- “No Brain? For Jellyfish, No Problem | Blog | Nature | PBS”. Gaskill, Melissa. 2018. Nature.
- “Does Peeing On A Jellyfish Sting Help? Here’s The Deal”. 2020. Healthline.