Deadly Jellyfish Invades Coastal Town in Australia
The deadly box jellyfish has invaded the coastal town of Mackay in central Queensland in record numbers. And, that is not the worst of it. Hundreds more box jellyfish are waiting offshore awaiting the right water and climactic conditions to move closer to the shore.
Lifeguard supervisor Paul Barker has been manning the beaches in Mackay for almost 20 years and he claims that he has never seen so many box jellyfish in his whole experience.
"We caught one small one on Monday (last week) and then 22 on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday and by the end of the week it was 56 all-up actually netted and eight that washed up," said Mr Barker. "I've never seen as many."
According to Mr. Barker, it is the high water temperature as well as the clearing of the flood runoff that are making the conditions perfect for this jellyfish invasion. Jellyfish found in this region ranged from half-grown ones to others twice the size of a man's fist.
Almost every day, about 15-20 swimmers have to be warned off the due to the danger posed by this deadly jellyfish. Box jellyfish is one of the deadliest creatures in the world and its venom can kill a human being in less than 3 minutes by either causing a heart attack or failure to breathe.
In previous years, the beach had to be closed once a year due to the presence of these deadly creatures in the waters. This year, however, the beach has been closed for over 15 times already.
Mr. Barker said removing the poisonous jellyfish from the nets after drags of 25 to 50 meters was a delicate and dangerous operation with lifesavers wearing double-sided suits and two pairs of gloves with boots taped down at the ankles with no skin exposed.
"We think it's the warmer water this year," he said. "The temperature is usually 26-27 degrees but for the last couple of weeks it's been around 30-31 degrees and fairly still and as the dirty water has cleared they've all come in."
Some of the jellyfish are being preserved in glass bottles to be collected and used by Surf Life Saving Queensland for educational purposes.
However, the worst is not over yet for the town of Mackay. As local shark contractor checking his nets about 200-300 meters offshore from the Mackay Harbor Surf Club has reported, hundreds more of the deadly jellyfish are floating just off the beach.
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