A few weeks ago, we visited a good friend's beach house for the day. The boys were excited to find many of these jellyfish washed up on the beach. As all good mama naturalists should, I cautioned my little students not to touch the jellyfish. From what I knew, all jellyfish had the ability to sting you. And according to my husband, who has been stung by many a jelly, the best cure I know of is to urinate on the sting site. Boys with an excuse to pee on each other...Oh Lord!
They collected several with a bucket and stick, careful not to touch them. Then one of the boys accidentally stepped on one and to his surprise, he did not get stung. Good for him...and for those on the beach that would have had to witness the remedy.
After coming home, we researched a bit and found that the jellies we found are moon jellyfish. They do have stinging tentacles, but they are so small that most people (unless you are very sensetive) do not feel the sting. Those that we found on the beach had most likely lost their "stingers" while being tossed around on the beach.
Lessons learned:
Moms are not ALWAYS right.
But it is still good to err on the side of caution when dealing with mushrooms, spiders and jellyfish.
The beach is a constant source of natural wonder.
For more jellyfish facts...
---Eren
