ISLAND TIME DIVERS: Upsidedown Jelly

Did you hear the story about the winner of a competition for what was billed the "best job in the world". Ben Southall was stung by a deadly jellyfish, called an irukandji, while getting off a jetski at Hamilton Island in Whitsundays. The bloke beat out 34,000 other people to get this dream job and almost dies from the sting of a jellyfish no bigger than your fingernail. As they say in Australia, no worries, he made out okay and I am sure he is getting his share of shouts at the pub these days.

When you think about jellyfish I bet you picture in your mind a deadly killing machine such as the lethal box jellyfish, Portuguese Man-of-War or the feared irukandji, but you probably never think about the benign upsidedown jellyfish as pictured in the black and white photo above.

In reality only a few jellyfish are actually toxic but all of them are quite facinating and beautiful. From translucent to very colorful they move through the water by pulsating contractions of their dome. The upsidedown jellyfish is only mildly toxic and it spends it’s days on it’s head with its oral arms sticking up to speed growth of the symbiotic algae called zoozanthellae from which it gets part of it’s nurishment.

Here is a trick we use on night dives when the sea thimbles or sea wasps are swarming and stinging us on our safety stop and ascent. Take your octopus and release air in a circle above your head as you ascend the last few feet. The air bubbles will move the stinging critters out of your way long enough to pass through them to the surface. If you know the jellyfish are swarming before you dive you can put on sun screen, yes at night, and you will be protected from most of the stinging.