. . . well, it’s not really a Jaws moment, but, good grief, what’s this* I’ve been reading these last couple of days all about a “purple jellyfish invasion” not a million miles from our shores?
Apparently, it led to swimmers being taken to hospital with “chemical burn”-style injuries.
It reportedly happened when a group of around 120 people came across two swarms of mauve stingers during a swim challenge off the Isles of Scilly.
Thing is, I did hear of something very similar occurring off Falmouth’s Gyllyngvase and Swanpool beaches several weeks ago.
There were “masses of them, everywhere,” I was told, and at least one regular swimmer was said to have suffered quite severe stings all along his arm.
We were already well out of the main summer season, which is when we normally expect the greatest presence of jellyfish, although not normally the “purple” variety.
That period had passed relatively peacefully this year. I heard no more “purple” reports after this recent episode, so I dismissed it all as something of a one-off and carried on swimming at peace with the world.
But now . . . I reckon I’ll keep an eagle eye open when I take my Gylly dip in around half an hour’s time!
At least I’m not anticipating anything resembling a remarkable “invasion” incident in Falmouth Bay back in late September, 1965. I wrote about that one in June last year.
Just to make all my fellow swimmers feel really comfortable, you might want to read it again, especially as I see there is something of a real sting in its tail! So here it is:--
FALMOUTH BAY INVADERS ‘DROWNED’ BY ROYAL NAVY
. . . . . Let’s just hope that we can have at least one more summer with no sightings of the dreaded Portuguese Man of War, notorious for a sting potentially much more dangerous than that of a jellyfish. (Technically, of course, the PMoW is not actually a jellyfish.)
Wind the clock back to late September 1965 and there were reports aplenty of this menace in Falmouth Bay and along its coastline.
They were enough to call a halt to deep-sea exercises by Royal Navy divers three miles off the harbour entrance,
The Falmouth Packet reported: “They had to stop what they were doing when a shoal of the jellyfish (sic), with their iridescent plastic-like bladders, floated among them.
“The men were in danger of being stung about the face and more than a score of the fish were ‘drowned’ by the divers, who harpooned their bladders, causing them to sink to the bottom.
“Two of them were netted and brought back to Falmouth aboard a motor fishing vessel. One is on show in a local fishing tackle shop.”
The Packet added: “With the prevailing southerly winds, quite a number of the shoal are finding their way on to the local beaches. They are unable to swim, but their inflatable bladders act as tiny sails and they are completely at the mercy of the winds.
“Their sting can at best resemble a severe bee sting and at worst can also paralyse a limb.
“Their appearance in waters off the Cornish coast seems to come in cycles of ten years or so. Last time they were reported for Cornwall was in 1954.”
So . . . safe until 2024-ish?
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