Sea Nettle
(Chyrysaora quinquecirrha)
Dedicated to Veronica Gross, who got stung. Ow!

The Sea Nettle has up to 40 tentacles, and is usually pinkish with reddish bars radiating out, except for the estuarine form which is a milky white. This species is easily confused with the Purple Jellyfish which has no more than 8 tentacles. The Sea Nettle frequents Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay in the summer. It tends towards lower salinity water, as dilute as 3 ppt (parts per thousand). It has a very sharp sting that isn't fatal (except in cases of severe allergy to the toxin), but very painful. When the tentacle contacts skin, thousands of cells called nematocysts are triggered. Tiny barbs are fired into the skin and venom is injected. There are three steps to take when stung-
1)Neutralize the nematocysts, "locking" them. This is best done with white vinegar. The stories of urine working are sketchy, and may in fact trigger nematocysts of some jellyfish.
2)Remove the tentacles. Sprinkle the affected area with sand and scrape off the clinging tentacles with a shell, dull knife blade, or other good scraping tool.
3)Treat the sting. Meat tenderizer works best because it breaks down the venom, which is a protein. Papain, the main enzyme of meat tenderizer, comes from papayas and works well too. Baking soda on the sting may make it feel better.