jellyfish intoxication

[silverpigeon97]

While i was on holiday my of my mates got stung by a jellyfish five times in the foot at haiti. An hour later and he was high as a kite for 5 maybe 6 hours. Is this actually possible or did he just inhale pot without knowing it. Any scientific ideas would be nice.

[Shoden]

whoa thats randomly funny

[Tama2]

It's pretty tough to inhale pot and not know it.

[rubah]

Now, if this was in Australia and not Haiti, being randomly high for hours would be *normal*

[Rase]

Unless he has some strange reaction to the jellyfish venom, I don't know. I do know that jellyfish venom causes pain, swelling, and can be lethal (if you get, like, 300 stings :rolleyes2), but I've never heard of it giving someone a "high" and I kind of doubt it. Of course, I've never been to Haiti, so I don't know if there are strange jellyfish there or something. However, in all the times I got stung in Alaska, I've never gotten a "high" off of it, juts a painful spot for a week or so.

[Tidus5]

You can't get a high off of a jellyfish sting. The stings usually cause swelling and irritation. However, if you don't get treated quickly enough and you got stung a lot, it can be particularly dangerous. Jellyfish venom is a neurotoxin, meaning that it attacks your nervous system (this is how they stun their prey because the venom immobilizes them). When the tentacle touches you, it shoots their barbs into your skin and it keeps pumping in small amounts of venom unless you get the barb out. Thats why people put meat on the stings because the ridges in the barbs can attach to it and get pulled out easily. However, if you see something floating that looks like a pinkish/white plastic bag on top of the water, stay the hell away from it. Chances are its a portugese man of war and I have seen some whose tentacles dangle down 20 feete or more. Those things can kill you quickly if you dont get immediate help.

If anyone is wondering how I know this, its because I'm a biology major and I work at a marine lab in the summer.

[Rye]

You can't get a high off of a jellyfish sting. The stings usually cause swelling and irritation. However, if you don't get treated quickly enough and you got stung a lot, it can be particularly dangerous. Jellyfish venom is a neurotoxin, meaning that it attacks your nervous system (this is how they stun their prey because the venom immobilizes them). When the tentacle touches you, it shoots their barbs into your skin and it keeps pumping in small amounts of venom unless you get the barb out. Thats why people put meat on the stings because the ridges in the barbs can attach to it and get pulled out easily. However, if you see something floating that looks like a pinkish/white plastic bag on top of the water, stay the hell away from it. Chances are its a portugese man of war and I have seen some whose tentacles dangle down 20 feete or more. Those things can kill you quickly if you dont get immediate help.

If anyone is wondering how I know this, its because I'm a biology major and I work at a marine lab in the summer.

Yeah, Man of Wars are like, enormous and they look like a sail of a boat a bit. I'm afraid of jellyfish. :(

I think Tidus5 covered it.

[Hawkeye]

Id just avoid the whole problem and not go to the beach :)

[Tidus5]

Id just avoid the whole problem and not go to the beach :)

NO! no no no no no. Bad decision. Some jellyfish are actually really fun to play with. Cannonball jellyfish have a very mild sting and me and my friends pick them up when we are out surfing and throw them at each other. I know its cruel but its fun. They sort of feel like grabbing a bald guys head underwater....

[Psychotic]

I once saw a huge jellyfish washed up on a beach so I threw rocks at it and it didn't fight back. Was this meant to happen?

[SomethingBig]

Did you actually see the stings? Because jellyfish don't make you high. That's the last thing they'll do to you.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I love that song.

[bennator]

Jellyfish freak me out for some reason.....they keep me from going into the ocean too much. Luckily, all we have here are (great) lakes, which don't have jellyfish.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Except, of course, for <a href="http://oceanhunter.com/Jelly%20Lake.html">Jellyfish Lake</a>.

[Bubble_Tea_Tifa]

Some useless / educational info!!!!
Nematocysts, or stinging cells, are used by jellyfish to deliver toxins into their prey. The stinging apparatus consists of a "harpoon" on a thread coiled inside the stinging cell, and attached to a reservoir containing venom. On contact with the victim, the stinging cell discharges its harpoon into the skin and injects venom. Each tentacle may be covered with millions of stinging cells, resulting in a large amount of venom being injected over a wide area.

Watch out for Chironex fleckeri!