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Identify a marine creature sting please. Jellyfish or weever?

7 replies

megletthesecond · 17/08/2020 13:58

12yo DD stepped on this on the beach in Devon a couple of hours ago. Said it felt worse than nettle but wasn't crying in pain. She's ok now, she had fudge after the beach 🤷‍♀️, and happily walking on it.

I thought possibly weever fish as she didn't have her beach shoes on but it seems to have settled down quite fast (no mark now) so I wondered if it was broken jellyfish tentacle? I've been led to believe that weever fish are very painful. It was low tide. Any beach experts out there? 🐙🐟

Identify a marine creature sting please. Jellyfish or weever?
OP posts:
megletthesecond · 17/08/2020 14:00

Title should say 'weever ' not server.

OP posts:
FreezerBird · 17/08/2020 14:04

I think weever fish stings can vary a lot depending on the angle they're stepped on etc. I've known kids shrug them off and grown adults weep!

However the shape of that does look more like a tentacle or something has wrapped around her foot a bit. Again, jellyfish can vary but my experience of them is in the nettle sting range and quite short-lived afterwards so that might be it. (Although I've only ever been stung while swimming rather than stepping on one on a beach.)

cosmo30 · 17/08/2020 14:12

My ds was stung by a weever fish when he was four, it was very red and inflamed and it did hurt him, but not so much as I'd have thought! That looks like a tentacle shape to me where as the weever fish sting was a big red blotch on my ds

thewalrus · 17/08/2020 14:36

Another vote for 'probably jellyfish' here. There are a lot of jellies around at the moment where we are (Cornwall). I'm lucky enough to have never been stung by either - but my family are a sting-prone bunch and the consensus among them is that a jelly is like a nettle sting (I guess it would hurt more on the sole of your foot) and a weever is a lot worse.
Hope she's ok either way - fudge sounds like an excellent cure!

megletthesecond · 17/08/2020 14:45

Thanks both Smile.
And thanks to HQ for editing my title.

I've seen a couple of small jellies (tennis ball size) bob past the last few days but I wear beach shoes and a short wetsuit so I try not to freak out. At least jellies don't chase you like wasps Hmm.

OP posts:
rbe78 · 17/08/2020 15:03

Yep, would definitely say jellyfish - you can see the line of the tentacle. My OH stepped on a weever fish in Cornwall recently, and the wound looked like a little puncture in his foot, nothing like your picture.

If it starts to hurt/itch again over the next few days, hydrocortisone cream really helps.

1point21gigawatts · 17/08/2020 15:28

I'd say jellyfish too. Weever fish sting is like a puncture from their dorsal fin, much like the mechanism of a wasp sting.

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