Jellyfish... coming to a beach near you
As if wasps buzzing around your ice cream weren't enough for lovers of the great British beach to worry about, we now have jellyfish the size of dustbin lids to contend with.
As summer approaches and our seas warm up, the giant barrel jellyfish and other foreign species may well be coming to a beach near you. To take the sting out of the situation we've invited jellyfish expert, Tom Hird, aka The Blowfish, to teach us all about these strange and fascinating creatures.
Blowfish will be showing us some live jellies, discussing dangerous varieties and informing of us of what to do if we do get stung.
What to do if you are stung by a jellyfish
If you are stung by a jellyfish, the first thing to do is not to panic. Thrashing about in the water might just mean you end up getting stung over and over.
Get out of the water and using a stick, credit card or even just a shell, remove the tentacles if they are still stuck to you
If you have it to hand, place shaving cream on the area, otherwise, just wash the area with salt water and monitor it. If the pain becomes excessive or you have a bad reaction, head to a hospital.
Stings are best treated with seawater - the salt is thought to deactivate the tiny darts, called nematocysts, inside cells that fire off the venom
In some patients who are allergic, jellyfish stings can cause anaphylactic shock - much like the symptoms associated with allergies to bee stings. In these cases it is the reaction of the patient's immune system, not the jellyfish toxin itself, that causes the problem. The patient's blood pressure drops rapidly, breathing airways become constricted causing wheezing, a skin rash develops, and vomiting usually occurs. Anaphylactic shock caused by jellyfish stings is extremely rare but life-threatening when it does occur.
The NHS advice is to avoid highly infested waters