No, Carnivorous Sea Bugs Are Not Going to Eat Your Legs.
An Australian teenager was recently hospitalized after a mysterious swarm of creatures appeared to have bitten his legs and caused severe bleeding . While this incident caused some shock and awe, there is no reason to worry about it.
It is part of Lifehacker’s new Never Fear series. The world is a scary place, but we tend to lose our fear in things that don’t really deserve our precious time and energy. Let’s fight these fears with a little knowledge.
Sea lice are not to blame
As soon as the incident occurred, the media and Internet users immediately blamed sea lice , small crustaceans that live as external parasites on fish and other marine animals.
They feed on mucus, epidermal tissue and are literally bloodsuckers, but rarely try to feed on humans. A video of these creatures was soonposted online by the victim’s father , showing tiny monsters devouring pieces of raw meat. This is pretty gross:
Intimidating indeed, Museums Victoria , located in Carlton, Victoria, Australia, quickly identified these creatures as amphipodysianassids , or “sea fleas,” a type of scavenger crustacean rather than sea lice. According to marine biologist Jeanfort Walker-Smith, who examined a sample collected by the teen’s father, sea fleas have bitten people in the past, but this type of attack is unusual:
“Just out of luck. He may have disturbed the feeding group, but they usually don’t wait to attack like piranhas. “
Alistair Poore, an assistant professor at the University of New South Wales, told The New York Times that there could be more of them in the area than usual – possibly due to the large amount of dead fish in the area. And Pur continues that these animals are no different from the leeches and mosquitoes found on land. It’s not fun, but it’s not really life-threatening either.
This was a particularly rare incident.
So why does this case of sea flea bites seem so serious? Walker-Smith offers several possibilities . First, a teenager could unknowingly step on or near a fish carcass, where a flock of fleas was already in a crazy feeding mode. Second, the water was very cold, so the teen probably didn’t feel the bites when they happened. Finally, amphipods may have used an anticoagulant similar to how leeches feed, inducing blood flow.
The teen told the press that he was just trying to soak his aching feet for half an hour on Dandy Street Beach in Brighton after a football match. Walker-Smith says the teen may have had injuries or small cuts on his legs that initially attracted scavengers to him , and the more they bite, the more they bleed him, drawing more into the feast. Marine biologist Michael Keough of the University of Melbourne explained the process to The Age :
“They are scavengers who take away dead fish and feed on living tissue … if it stands for a long time, chances are that more of them will come and start biting. Just be attracted to a little blood. And if he is standing in the water, and he is cold, and he may not notice many small bites. “
In truth, you’re more likely to experience “swimmer’s itch,” also known as cercarial dermatitis , which is a harmless skin rash caused by microscopic aquatic parasites and their larvae. The larvae burrow into your skin, causing an allergic reaction, and then die because you are not a suitable host. It sounds much scarier than it actually is. And most of the “sea bather bites” or “eruptions” you think come from sea lice or fleas are probably actually caused by jellyfish larvae .
Avoiding sea flea bites is easy
Sea fleas are found in every ocean around the planet, and there are hundreds of millions of them, so you cannot completely avoid them if you want to swim on the beach. However, there are a few things you can do to significantly reduce the chances of being bitten:
- Swim during the day: Walker-Smith says they are more active at night and at dusk to avoid predators.
- Watch where you put your feet: the sea fleas want to eat the dead fish, not your feet. But if you place your feet right next to a dead fish, they will get tangled and go to your flesh instead. Hey, food is food. Just pay attention to where you walk and swim, especially if the water is cold and you can’t feel your skin.
- Keep moving: They won’t be able to catch on to you if you keep moving through the water, so don’t stay in one place for too long.
- Don’t bleed in water: Blood in water attracts predators and anything that feeds on blood. So don’t go into the water with an open wound. Plus, the water contains bacteria, so there is another reason you shouldn’t. I feel like you should know this already, but just in case …
Remember, these little guys are mostly harmless, and most experts assessing this event say there is no reason to avoid diving. For most people, sea fleas are nothing more than an annoyance. Think of them as “sea mosquitoes” rather than tiny piranhas. They are not poisonous, rarely so voracious, and this incident was just an occasion when they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Moreover, they are a vital part of the marine environment. Walker-Smith explains that “… if we didn’t have them, we would have a sea filled with dead and decaying fish.” Ugh, that sounds a lot worse to me.