Nuisance jimble jellyfish deliver painful stings to swimmers at Balmoral Beach in Mosman
A MARINE invertebrates expert from the Australian Museum advises covering up to ward off the painful stings of jimble jellyfish as ideal conditions have encouraged them to gather in big numbers.
Mosman
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LARGE numbers of jimble jellyfish have swimmers in a jam at Balmoral Beach.
The jimble belongs to the cubozoan family of jellyfish, which includes the infamous and deadly box jellyfish of northern Australia.
But the jimble is more of a painful nuisance and is found from Western Australia to southern Queensland.
They live in the clear waters of harbours and estuaries.
Balmoral seems to have become a local hot spot for the stingers, judging by the concerns of recent letter writers to the Mosman Daily.
The jimble has a transparent, box-shaped bell, 3cm to 4cm long, and a trail of tentacles 10cm to 15cm long.
Marine invertebrates expert Shane Ahyong, principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, said the right environmental conditions encouraged many jimbles to congregate.
“I don’t have any reason to think that the numbers have actually increased; they have just concentrated in a few spots,” he said.
“People don’t notice them until they turn up in big numbers, but they are always there.
“If you swim with goggles on you can see them.
“Every year it’s a combination of the wind, tides, water temperature and sometimes they end up in big groups because of the way those environmental factors just happen to merge.
“It’s just a sign of the conditions being right for them and they will probably soon enough disappear most likely.
“They are more common where the water is a little bit cooler; so in our waters, rather than up north.”
Dr Ahyong said the jimble sting was painful but harmless in almost all cases.
“Put vinegar and a cold pack on the bite and some ice on the pain,” he said.
“It should go away by itself, but if it’s severe, seek medical treatment.”
Dr Ahyong said swimmers should wear Lycra or stinger suits.
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE AUSTRALIA
Balmoral resident and Mosman deputy mayor Roy Bendall said jimbles were a perennial problem.
“I have been stung numerous times and have witnessed some horrific injuries from these jellys, however, I don’t believe they are arriving in more frequency,” he said.
“They only appear in numbers for a few weeks of the year and the easiest thing to do is avoid swimming at those times.
“Unfortunately not all natural occurrences are fixable for humanity’s convenience.”
For more information visit the Australian Museum website or the Jelly Watch website, a website for recording sightings of jellyfish and other marine organisms across the globe.
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