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More bright and spongy means more stingy ouch. Photo: Unsplash<\/p>\n
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Australia is pretty well-known for the variety of ways its creatures can hurt you. Spiders and snakes and all manner of ocean creatures with venom and poison and stabby bits and sharp teeth call the place home, and right now, surf lifesavers are sounding the alarm about an inundation of\u00a0bluebottle jellyfish. It\u2019s not all that uncommon, but it\u2019s worth the warning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly had some events down here where we\u2019ve had thousands and thousands of bluebottles washed up on the shore,\u201d surf lifesaver Henry Kiss told 9News<\/a>. \u201cThey get pushed down the coast from the warmer waters and then a southerly breeze can push them into shore. Certainly we\u2019ve had a couple of events already. It happens every few years.\u201d<\/p>\n Bluebottles, also known as Portuguese Man-o-Wars, are one of the more famously painful jellies. It\u2019s rare that a person would need to seek medical intervention for a sting, but it sure might feel like it. They come with intense pain that can last for hours or even days, as well as a stark red line where the tentacle landed.<\/p>\n Right now, a few beaches in Australia are lined with them, but Kiss has a relatively surefire way to tell if they\u2019re still in the water.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re bright blue and they\u2019re fresh and spongy, that means that they\u2019re recent,\u201d he explained. \u201cThat means that the chances of them being in the water currently is fairly high. If they\u2019re a little bit old and crusty, that means that they\u2019ve been there a while and the danger has probably passed.\u201d<\/p>\n