We have had the floods,
the freeze, and the economic
collapse, what
new disasters await us? It has come
to our attention that Ireland may
now be under attack by deadly JELLYFISH!

Record numbers of dangerous jellyfish
have appeared on our coastline
in recent times. The Portuguese
Man OʼWar and the Mauve Stinger
(right), both normally deep-ocean
creatures, were once a very rare find
in our waters. Marine scientists believe
stronger prevailing winds and
warmer waters are contributing to
this unwelcome development.

In 2009, researchers recorded 30
landings of the potentially deadly
Portuguese Man OʼWar on the east
coast, stretching from Wexford to
Louth. The Man OʼWar has an eerie
purple glow and is shaped like
the famous 16th Century Portuguese
warship.

They can grow to the size of a football
with a trail of stinging tentacles
that can be several metres in length.

It is not a true jellyfish but rather a
ʻsiphonopheʼ that is a single creature
made up of a colony of organisms
There are five indigenous jellyfish
species in Ireland, these are;
The Barrell, The Blue, The Common
(Moon), The Compass and
The Lionʼs Mane. The stings of the
first three species are harmless and
barely noticeable. The Compass and
The Lionʼs Mane, however, have
stings which can be painful and in
extreme cases trigger a dangerous
allergic reaction leading to anaphylactic
shock, which needs immediate
medical attention.

The sting from The Man OʼWar
can be extremely painful and has
been known to cause death through
anaphylactic shock. In response to
this new threat, experts from the
National Poisons Centre, doctors
and marine biologists are to meet in
March to forge new guidelines on
dealing with jellyfish stings.

Last September, Mauve Stinger
Jellyfish showed up in their thousands
on a beach at White Park Bay
in Antrim. The Northern Ireland
Environmental Agency issued a jellyfish
alert. This species can deliver
a powerful, nasty sting.

Two years earlier, a shoal of
Mauve Stingers wiped out an organic
salmon farm at Glenarm in
Antrim. The jellyfish, who were
thought to have come up from the
Mediterranean, caused £1 million
worth of damage by killing 100,000
salmon in a matter of hours. The
farms have since installed protective
barrier nets to avoid any reoccurrence.

Even if a beached jellyfish looks
dead, its stinging tentacles can still
work. In the water the transparent
tentacles can stretch out a lot farther
than you would think. Not surprisingly,
the best way to avoid being
stung is to avoid going near jellyfish,
whether in the water or on the
beach– avoid and retreat is the best
policy.

Letʼs hope that the changes in currents,
the water temperatures and
the winds that have brought these
creatures to our shores are cyclical,
otherwise we may have to get used
to these unpleasant visitors.