[Coral-List] sea wasps [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Shelley Anthony
shelleya at gbrmpa.gov.au
Tue Jul 17 19:40:37 EDT 2007
Hi Megan,
When I was at Lee Stocking Island (many years ago), we used to see
really large schools in the summer during night dives or occasionally
around the dock. They school up like that after the full moon to spawn
and I remember they would hover just under the surface at night. One of
my friends got stung by some (swam up through a school after doing his
deco stop), and while he said it was pretty painful, he didn't have a
serious physiological reaction, just some nasty red welts that went away
after a time. They're not nearly as venomous as the box jellies over
here, but they are still potentially dangerous. But I admit that after
my friend got stung, from then on I always made everyone shine their
flashlights into the water during night dives to check before I made a
roll-back entry...and still do.
Cheers,
Shelley
megan berkle wrote, On 17/07/2007 23:11:
> Dear coral-listers:
>
> I am working in San Salvador Island, Bahamas for the summer. I was
> night snorkelling on dump reef situated in Graham's harbor (north part
> of the island). I was waiting for the soft corals to spawn until I
> noticed a swarm of what appeared to be sea wasps. I thought this
> might be an isolated instance. However, while diving in Rice Bay
> (north part of the island) I realized the entire bottom of the bay was
> covered with 100's of sea wasps. They seem to be concentrated in
> shallow water (~10 feet) right above the sandy areas. Does anyone
> know if these sea wasps are often seen in large numbers in Bahamian
> waters? Are they as toxic as those found in the Indo-Pacific?
>
> Megan Berkle
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> [1]See what youre getting intobefore you go there
>
> References
>
> 1. http://g.msn.com/8HMAENUS/2749??PS=47575
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> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
--
Shelley L. Anthony, M.Sc.
Biological Operations Manager
Reef HQ Aquarium
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
2-68 Flinders St.
PO Box 1379
Townsville QLD 4810 AUSTRALIA
Ph: +61(07)4750-0876
Fax: +61(07)4772-5281
email: s.anthony at gbrmpa.gov.au
PhD Student
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
School of Marine and Tropical Biology
James Cook University
Townsville QLD 4811 AUSTRALIA
shelley.anthony at jcu.edu.au
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