Pretty but Stingy

Recently I had somewhat of an odd encounter with small, cup-shaped jellyfish in Bohol in the Philippines. What made the encounter odd is that the sting didn’t have an immediate effect; rather, it took about 12 hours before the sting affected me. The effect was not overly painful or itchy, but it it caused some rather ugly outbreaks on my skin. My neck and face were the only parts which were not covered by a rashguard, so that’s where they got me. The rash lasted about four days.

The species which stung me is Linuche aquila, also called the thimble jellyfish. They occur in big bursts, during the “tropical summer”, the early summer, the season with flat oceans and lots of sunshine. I had once before seen a mass occurrence, also in May, in Malapascua in the Cebu province of the Philippines.

Check out this brief video about my encounter with the thimble jellyfish:

Best Fishes,

Klaus