Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/07/2012 - 04:29
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Oceanographic Conditions of Bowhead Whale Habitat

How can you hold the jellyfish without gloves, and they dont sting you?

From Tristen, Macon Early College.

Fri, 09/07/2012 - 14:11

Lisa Seff

Hi Tristen, and good job on catching that I wasn't wearing gloves! A lot of our work usually means wearing heavy rubber, fleece-lined gloves which I found very hard to wear while transferring the organisms from the cod end of the nets...consequently my gloves were off when we pulled the jellyfish out! Probably not the best planning on my part, but fortunately it did not have any obvious stinging cells (nematocytes) that deliver the neurotoxins causing painful reactions. Next time I would wear gloves just to be on the safe side! A long time ago I studied a jellyfish called the lagoon jelly, or Mastigias papua which lived in marine lakes near Palau in the Pacific. They did not have obvious stinging cells either, until one might brush against your lips while swimming through a particularly dense patch of them! Then it was momentary lip-burn, but still not too bad.So while I did not get stung, my lesson learned is; no matter how excited you are to hold a giant jellyfish, it's always a good idea to wear gloves!
(:
Great question Tristen!
take care and safe seas,
Lisa