What Happens If You Swallow A Jellyfish?

lunchtime Brainard let's eat what's on the menu grandma's homemade maritime seafood chowder what a treat hold on bring your slowed down what is that in your spoon is that a jellyfish as in arguably the most venomous animal on the planet that was a close one those tiny suckers apparently hold 100 times more venom than the most dangerous Cobra on the planet don't worry we got your back Brainard we know a jellyfish sting can be awfully painful cue the infamous scene from friends featuring Monica Geller shrieking from the pain but what would happen if you ingested that tiny guy would it be a matter of life and death or would your body be able to pass it like this morning's breakfast let's start with what the heck a jellyfish is anyway this free swimming umbrella-shaped a marine animal is actually not a fish at all a fish is specifically centered around the anatomy of its backbone we know what you're thinking Brainard the folks who named jellyfish had one job and they couldn't even do that right among other marine animals jellyfish resemble most corals cien enemies and see who it's specifically because of their harpoon like stinging cell used to capture prey be Sinitta sites on the jelly species are discharged through their tentacles from a sac their lethal Anatomy allows them to catch your floating prey in the water which is helpful considering that jellyfish have very limited control over their movement in fact it's their ability to expand to contract their dome-shaped bodies they could jellyfish their distinct drifting movements but if you think that they're delicate and malleable bodies put jellyfish at a disadvantage then you would be wrong this is anything but a gentle and dainty specimen archeologists and other fancy people and white lab coats have discovered jellyfish fossils and rocks believed to be more than 500 million years old which makes them older than most dinosaurs it's even possible that the jellyfish lineage goes even further to over 700 million years but wait it gets better remarkably these resilient creatures have survived this long despite not having a heart lungs or even a brain which begs the question how does a jellyfish live without any of these vital organs Peck how do they survive if their bodies are made up of as much as 98% water good question Brainerd the thin nature of its skin allows the creature to absorb oxygen right through their bodies which evades the need for lungs and since they don't have any blood coursing through their veins there's no need for a heart to pump it through the body well on the subject of jellyfish fun facts they can even split in half to create a second version of themselves imagine if you could do that I'm sure two versions of you Brainerd would get lots of stuff done at the very least you'd have a great doubles partner in tennis so now that we understand the umbrellas of the sea let's dissect how and why jellyfish sting because jellyfish are anatomically vulnerable they're venomous sting acts as a defense and hunting mechanism when their tentacles encounter food or prey they reach out and fire a harpoon like structure from within their bodies that contains neurotoxic venom when it comes to other marine life it'll paralyze their prey but when it comes to humans it'll just really hurt but why for one thing jellyfish have enough venom to disable prey their size because humans are bigger it has a less dramatic effect on our bodies compared to small marine life but that doesn't mean it won't hurt symptoms include an intense stinging pain itching rash and raised welts so in a word not pretty some other progressive or after effects of a jellyfish sting include nausea vomiting diarrhea lymph nodes swelling abdominal pain muscle spasms or general numbness while more severe reactions include difficulty breathing or death so you know all the good stuff but this is all to say that if you were stung by a jellyfish brain you'd most likely survive there's one more crucial factor one must consider when it comes to jellyfish and their venomous stings and it's a little game that we like to play maim that species yep that's right hold your spoon right where we can see it because we haven't told you about the box jellyfish yet which is a whole nother story this infamous jellyfish is characterized by its more rectangle dome their venom is meant to instantly kill or stun prey like fish or shrimp so that their struggle to escape won't damage its delicate tentacles what makes the box jellyfish unique is its venom specifically attacks the heart nervous system and skin cells of the prey when it comes to how their venom affects humans the box jellyfish does pose a risk human victims have been known to go into shock drown or passive heart failure when they're stung in the ocean because of the gravity and its need for immediate medical attention most victims unfortunately do not make it back to shore once they're stung in fact each box jellyfish reportedly carries enough venom to ko 60 people box jellyfish are considered a more dangerous jellyfish species because of how highly adapted and advanced they are according to NatGeo they've developed the ability to move more swiftly in water they even have eyes with a sophisticated lens retina iris and cornea which allows them to see what's interesting is that these guys don't have a central nervous system so scientists aren't really sure exactly how box jellyfish process what they see these guys are found mostly off the coast of northern Australia and throughout the Indo Pacific their pale blue and transparent color couples with 15 tentacles that can grow to about 10 feet in length luckily for you Brainerd there's a well recorded case detailing exactly what would happen only this Australian teenager didn't find it in their grandma's chowder in 2000 a 17 year old lifeguard from Queensland drank a glass of water containing a box jellyfish tentacle apparently the water was not refrigerated for the sake of quenching hydration but rather it was a way for researchers to preserve their specimen as soon as the teenager realized what had happened he reported having trouble breathing when paramedics arrived just ten minutes later in our research the teenager thankfully did not perish although his medical condition was considered unstable for a while other than that there seems to be very few reported cases of folks swallowing one of these slimy and spineless guys but we don't need a medical report to tell us that the end result would not be pretty but isn't there a rumor out there that dogs accidentally eat jellyfish like all the time how does it affect our furry companions again it all depends on the species of jellyfish and one documented case despite swallowing a jellyfish the newly admitted dog did not suffer any major symptoms it did however irritate the esophagus which made the dog reluctant to eat what's more harmful is the contact between a dog's paw and some shored up tentacles so it seems pretty obvious that swallowing certain venomous jellyfish can be dangerous but if medical professionals are saying that the chance of survival of those stung by box jellyfish or other dangerous species is virtually zero then what would we do medical professionals claim that the difference between life and death comes down to a few but integral steps first of all do not I repeat do not panic jellyfish stings are very rarely deadly what is most dangerous is in action or the wrong course of action so listen up remove any tentacles that are still on the skin using a knife clean sticks or whatever is on hand like a credit card as you do this it'll also be important to limit your movements to not spread the venom throughout the body next rinse the affected areas with seawater not fresh water to reduce discomfort from the affected area if you happen to have some vinegar on hand the dose that stuff on it as well this will deactivate the stinging cells of most jellyfish as its acidity will neutralize the stings alkaline levels but there's no question that this is painful to relieve yourself you can immerse the affected area with hot water the heat here will inactivate toxins as well if the pain persists take Advil or Tylenol to help with the discomfort now remember what we said about cleaning the affected water with sea water and not fresh water apparently there's something in the chemistry of the water that causes the nimit assists to admit more sensations of pain similarly you're not gonna want to pee on the affected area we've all watched that episode of friends when Joey graciously relieves himself on Monica for the sake of treating her pain but how effective is it fortunately this is more fiction than fact for a long time people thought that since urine contains salts and electrolytes that it would counter balance the nimit assists of a jellyfish sting but because there are so many factors that affect the potency color and even contents of our urine peeing on your affected friend may do nothing more than well cover your friend in pee so what should you actually do if you're stung by a jellyfish in North America an area with less venomous specimens then an oral analgesics should do the trick however in Australia which has nastier jellyfish like the deadly box jellyfish most lifeguard teams are equipped with more and antivenoms to treat unlucky swimmers more recently a Hawaii based company had recently developed treatments to provide pain relief and even prevention for jellyfish stings the main researcher involved did this to help long distance swimming dan and I had to successfully swim from Havana to Key West in 2013 she'd previously been prevented from achieving this goal by a mere danger of the box jellyfish but this medical miracle gave her the confidence to swim to great lengths another research team is studying whether or not cholesterol targeting drugs available over the country could block the deadly venom of the box jellyfish according to science magazine MB CD and HP BCD prevented pain tissue death and scarring in mice Greg Neely the geneticist of the University of Sydney in Australia was surprised that the drug could block the Venom's action given that it's composed of more than 250 proteins but of course these are drug tests done on mice Neely says that the next course of action could be to test whether the cholesterol drugs could protect the heart of live animals eventually he hopes to see the potential antidote to human clinical trials Neely reports that as soon as it's tested and approved his team will share the findings with another country gravely affected by the deadly box jellyfish the Philippines it's estimated that some 500 people died and it's only assumed to get worse considering climate change and its tendency to raise ocean temperatures and it's just a matter of time before some problematic encounters come about but that being said all in all there's no reason to be more afraid of a jellyfish than you would be of a wasp or a bee with the proper precautions the risks in the pain could be minimized ensuring that you can relax while on vacation as for the bowl of soup in front of you we'd suggest walking across the street and buying a new lunch we don't want to hurt grandma's feelings either but if her secret ingredient to her famous seafood chowder is jellyfish then we may need to rethink some things the very least let's just stick to her baking no jellyfish there until next time rendered later [Music]

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Keywords: box jellyfish, stung by jellyfish, how to treat a jellyfish sting, ocean, animals, most painful sting, what if, brainiac

Id: P5BWxYcbF5I

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020