just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, downunder

[Ken Gargett]

no mention of sharks!

swans? i've been attacked by a goose.

i'd never heard of a bullrout but am just thinking of how many thousands of hours i've spent barefeet in the water.

and had no idea the irakanji went that far south.

Don’t go in the water: a world of pain awaits in Australia’s deep blue seas

January 13, 2016 6.34am AEDT

Lisa-ann Gershwin

Australia’s reputation for deadly creatures of all kinds is known the world over. Tourists worry about it, and comedians have a field day with it. Here’s what Bill Bryson says in his book In a Sunburned Country:

[Australia] has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures – the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world.

Bryson certainly has a way with words. But, to be honest, he forgot a few things.

The long list

Australia has at least nine species of Irukandjis, a group of jellyfish so nasty that their drop-for-drop toxicity leaves the box jellyfish in the dust.

Impressive, considering the box jelly has long been considered the world’s most venomous animal. A massive sting from a box jelly kills in as little as two minutes; for other victims, it’s generally painful with some scarring, but that’s about it.

Irukandji, in contrast, with just an imperceptible brush of venom leaves almost no mark. But after about a half hour you develop Irukandji syndrome, a debilitating mix of nausea, vomiting, severe pain, difficulty breathing, drenching sweating and sense of impending doom. You get so sick that your biggest worry is that you’re not going to die!

And that’s just the beginning: up to a third of victims require life support and a quarter have ongoing complications, including permanent heart damage or neurological damage.

Bryson also forgot the blue bottles that sting some 25,000 to 45,000 people each year in Australia, at least one species of which causes Irukandji syndrome.

And he forgot the bullrout, which is kind of a brackish-water version of the stonefish – caution, they hang out at boat ramps and these suckers hurt.

And stingrays, which combine stabbing and venom into the one injury. And the cone snail, which looks mild-mannered, but can imperil your life with one stab of its lightning-fast barb.

Then there are sea urchins and stinging hydroids and venomous sponges, which will put you in a world of hurt. But nobody ever thinks to include them.

And the sea snakes: if you get one in your fishing net, or your dive equipment, or your hair, remember the old adage “don’t grab a snake by its tail”. Well, I’m not sure if that’s an adage or not, but it should be. In fact, “don’t grab a snake” would be better.

Bryson also forgot the world’s only venomous mammal, the platypus: males have a venomous spur on the back legs, and they seriously hurt. And my new favourite, the arrow worm. Yes, the arrow worm.

Granted, there aren’t any reported deaths from arrow worms, but they deserve respect. They look like a beansprout with fish fins, with a fish tail at one end and rows of big scary spines at the other, which they use to grasp their food. And they “bite” with tetrodotoxin – the same venom that makes fugu (the pufferfish delicacy) and blue ring octopus so lethal.

And swans. Bryson forgot swans. At least three people have reportedly been killed by swans. I’m just sayin’. (Good news: these are not the native Australian black swans).

But why?

Okay, venomous beansprouts, swans and fear of not dying aside, what is it with Australia’s dangerous creatures? The typical explanation for powerful venoms is subduing dinner or dealing quickly with danger, especially for delicate creatures or those that aren’t able to track prey for long distances.

But certainly the box jellyfish’s venom is overkill, while the Irukandji takes too long. What’s more, fish don’t appear to get Irukandji syndrome … although I’ve never been sure how to tell if a fish is sweating.

Similarly, the dinner-or-danger hypothesis doesn’t seem to hold true for stabbing fish wounds, such as those delivered by stonefish, bullrouts and stingrays. Certainly, the stabbing must be far more effective than all but the most instant venom effects.

But one must keep in mind that these creatures evolved their toxins long before Homo sapiens fossicked the tide pools or snorkelled the reefs. So although their venoms can harm us, this may just be coincidental.

A question that often arises is what effect climate change will have on these creatures or their venoms. Well, the answer is we really don’t know yet.

With regard to species, there will be winners and losers. Many of the venomous sea creatures are tropical, and many tropical species are expanding southward. To what extent this may put the more populated southerly areas at higher risk is still unclear.

One group, however, seems particularly poised to benefit: the jellyfishes. As warmer water stimulates their metabolism, they grow faster, eat more, breed more and live longer. Irukandjis and box jellyfish become more toxic as they mature, so getting there faster and staying there longer could have undesirable outcomes for sea users.

How, then, can we possibly navigate these dangers when curious sea snakes want to swim with us, duckbilled platypus, stones and beansprouts must be viewed with suspicion, blue is sounding like the new warning colour, invisible jellyfish will lay us flat, and even the swans, a symbol of romance, are scary?

Four tips for keeping safe

Rule 1: First and foremost, try to make it a rule never to touch an animal that isn’t a personal friend. This will prevent the vast majority of bite and sting injuries, and not just from sea creatures.

Rule 2: Do the stingray shuffle when moving in sandy water: drag your feet in such a way that you’re continuously kicking sand in front to where you’re about to step. This will scare most creatures away so that you don’t step on them.

Rule 3: Wear protective clothing (a full-body lycra suit, for instance) when swimming in areas where box jellyfish or Irukandjis may appear. If stung by box jellyfish or Irukandjis or unknown jellyfish in the tropics, douse with vinegar to neutralise undischarged stinging cells.

Rule 4: Don’t try to make friends with swans.

Finally, read the Australian Resuscitation Council website for the latest on prevention and first aid for bites and stings.

[NapaNolan]

I react in the same way when seaweed brushes my arm or when a shark attacks me.

I stay out of the water.

[JackFNQ]

What no mention of the brain parasite?

Gives new dreaded meaning to the phrase, 'up your nose with a rubber hose.'

http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/parents-warn-of-braineating-parasite-that-killed-baby-boy/news-story/cf95d0728452dd5a302236b43c20a13d

[HarveyBoulevard]

Ken...a walking tourism advert for Australia

[Ken Gargett]

Ken...a walking tourism advert for Australia

i believe that the surveys undertaken by whomsoever takes such surveys shows that potential tourists are not put off by the fact that we have deadly animals under every rock.

hey, this morning's paper has a photo of a brown snake curled around a dozen eggs, under someone's fridge in adelaide. holy crap. yes, one of the world's most deadly.

[Jeremy Festa]

I have been attacked by a black swan while wakeboarding on Marshall's lagoon near the Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast. It also attacked the boat and it was seriously terrifying. The attacks were numerous and the whole 'adventure' lasted about half an hour! I have old video footage somewhere.

Sent from my iPhone

[Ken Gargett]

I have been attacked by a black swan while wakeboarding on Marshall's lagoon near the Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast. It also attacked the boat and it was seriously terrifying. The attacks were numerous and the whole 'adventure' lasted about half an hour! I have old video footage somewhere.

Sent from my iPhone

Please post!

a filthy hellspawn demon masquerading as a goose chased me up a fence in mid winter at dawn, in melbourne - yes, it was seriously cold - while i was wearing only a pair of jocks. then created a cacophony as though the walls of Jericho were coming down again. so the entire neighbourhood came to stare.

a year or so later, i heard that the owners had been forced to "relocate" it to a farm, as it had become a little too aggressive. i was overjoyed to hear that within a few days, it had decided to show all the other animals who was boss and had taken on a gentle, innocent bovine who wanted nothing more than to chew the cud with its friends. the goose so annoyed it that it led the entire herd on a stampede. over the goose.

i was told that they found nothing other than a few clumps of feathers.

still smile at that.

[Ken Gargett]

should you describe a snake as heavily pregnant when it has laid the eggs?

Heavily pregnant deadly snake found under fridge by Australian woman

Highly venomous eastern brown snake discovered peering out from under refrigerator in suburban Adelaide is captured, then goes on to lay 15 eggs

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Eastern brown snake found under fridge in Adelaide home

Australian Associated Press

Wednesday 13 January 2016 12.02 AEDT Last modified on Wednesday 13 January 2016 13.00 AEDT

• 
  

An Adelaide woman got the fright of her life when she went to get a drink from the fridge and discovered a brown snake peering out from underneath.

The venomous eastern brown snake had a surprise in store for the homeowners – it was heavily pregnant and later laid 15 eggs.

Rolly Burrell from Snake Catchers Adelaide, who caught the snake, said: “It’s lucky she saw the snake now or she might have been going to the fridge to get a drink later on and seen all these little critters all over the place.”

The incubation period for brown snakes is between 55 and 80 days.

Burrell said it had been easy to catch the snake – he simply moved the fridge and grabbed it. “I’ve been doing it for 40 years and I make it look easy,” he said on Wednesday. “When you’re doing 300 snakes a month you tend to get a little bit blasé.”

The snake is recovering from the exhaustion of laying the eggs. She was given some mice and water to build up her strength before being released.

The eastern brown snake is responsible for most of the snakebite deaths in Australia, usually only one or two each year.

[JackFNQ]

I was bitten by a snake two days ago and I didn't know. Found the puncture marks the following day. Fortunately I woke up as I went to bed after it happened. Probably a dry bite, little tree snake not that big, around shrub near pond hunting for frogs I suspect. People who have been bitten by them that haven't been too worried about going to hospital have died. Bite just above hip; about 1am. If it was that snake they are quite docile, and are happy to get away from you. I must have brushed against it.

[irratebass]

Blue Bottles & Blue - Octopus......WOW! & yes Swans can be a-holes!

[jat]

My wife used to do a lot of research work with cone snails at the Institute of Molecular Biology in Brisbane

Identifying the conotoxins which bind to very specific site in the nervous system causing paralysis and death. She would synthesise the useful bits and attach various drugs. Think of a key going into a lock. The lock is the chemical channels in your body and the useful part of the conotoxins are the keys. Attach the right sort of drug and it allows very specific delivery of pain relieving drugs.

The conotoxins are so deadly and quick acing, nobody really knows why the levels that the cone snails emit are so high. The snails that target little fish, put out enough toxin to kill an elephant. There is no antidote. They are a very beautiful and diverse range of shells and available near the shore line so its amazing more people aren't stung.

[Gunson]

Reading this just reaffirmed my decision to never visit Australia.

[squizz]

Nope, nope, nope. Stay out of the water, unless it is a man made pool! Nature will mess you up!

[Bill Hayes]

Although not specific to just Australian waters, we have Lion Fish and Fire Coral too. Also, if you manage to catch a nice reef fish from up north, make sure it isn't too big because it may have had enough time to absorb enough toxins from eating smaller fish that are infected with algae poisoning and you could get ciguatera poisoning. A condition that exhibits flu like symptoms then makes your nervous system go haywire and cold feels like hot and hot feels like cold. Then there is the obvious, rip currents at ocean beaches. A family of 7 tourists got swept out to sea last week and had to saved by surfers at the infamous Woolamai surf at Phillip Island. They were swimming late after the patrolled times by life savers. Anyhoo, please feel free to come down under and bring your swimmers. PS. I have noticed an increase in jellyfish of all types in the waters down south. Never thought I would encounter anything deadly though.

[JamesNYC]

I have seriously considered a vacation to Australia, even after hearing about some of the horrible creatures that infest that beautiful country. Now I'm not sure.

Is there any beautiful beach that is relatively non deadly?

I understand there are many other reasons to visit, and I'm not actually much of a beach guy, but the rest of my family enjoys the beach.

[foursite12]

If you're wondering how a swan can be so dangerous, consider that, at close to 30 lbs/14 kg, they are the heaviest flying bird. The strength required to maintain flight for something that heavy is enormous and so it is no wonder that they can inflict a lot of damage with their wings.

A couple of years ago a fellow died in a small pond at a residential complex in a Chicago suburb very close to my office after a male swan attacked him in his canoe, causing him to capsize, and then the swan repeatedly blocked his route to shore. He drowned trying to fight off the swan and stay afloat in his sodden clothing. In the ultimate irony, the swan had been placed at the site the year before by the same poor guy, whose business was to provide swans to property owners in an attempt to keep pesky Canada geese away. (It is especially sad that there were multiple eyewitnesses to this event and the guy was not rescued).

[Bill Hayes]

I have seriously considered a vacation to Australia, even after hearing about some of the horrible creatures that infest that beautiful country. Now I'm not sure.

Is there any beautiful beach that is relatively non deadly?

I understand there are many other reasons to visit, and I'm not actually much of a beach guy, but the rest of my family enjoys the beach.

Mate, come on down. It's just like when you are visiting any foreign country, seek good advice on what's safe and what's not.

[frenchkiwi]

i believe that the surveys undertaken by whomsoever takes such surveys shows that potential tourists are not put off by the fact that we have deadly animals under every rock.

hey, this morning's paper has a photo of a brown snake curled around a dozen eggs, under someone's fridge in adelaide. holy crap. yes, one of the world's most deadly.

thanks for the run down!

the last time i went swimming in australia, i believe i was 7 years old. nobody had told me about any of this, i should sue my parents. however i did find a dead shark on the beach, only 1m50 long, i suppose that was my warning!!

[frenchkiwi]

If you're wondering how a swan can be so dangerous, consider that, at close to 30 lbs/14 kg, they are the heaviest flying bird. The strength required to maintain flight for something that heavy is enormous and so it is no wonder that they can inflict a lot of damage with their wings.

A couple of years ago a fellow died in a small pond at a residential complex in a Chicago suburb very close to my office after a male swan attacked him in his canoe, causing him to capsize, and then the swan repeatedly blocked his route to shore. He drowned trying to fight off the swan and stay afloat in his sodden clothing. In the ultimate irony, the swan had been placed at the site the year before by the same poor guy, whose business was to provide swans to property owners in an attempt to keep pesky Canada geese away. (It is especially sad that there were multiple eyewitnesses to this event and the guy was not rescued).

i wonder, can you be sued for manslaughter or something for not assisting someone?

anyway, i hate swans, because in spite of the fact that their overall physical grace is the source of inspiration for ballet etc, up close, they have really ugly faces. and they hiss. that's enough for me to think of gun violence.

[frenchkiwi]

a filthy hellspawn demon masquerading as a goose chased me up a fence in mid winter at dawn, in melbourne - yes, it was seriously cold - while i was wearing only a pair of jocks. then created a cacophony as though the walls of Jericho were coming down again. so the entire neighbourhood came to stare.

never mind the swan video, who has video of this incident. we will pay to see LOL

[free85]

Venomous. Sponges.

A sponge, that has venom. Let that soak in for a minute (bah-dum-tish).

[foursite12]

i wonder, can you be sued for manslaughter or something for not assisting someone?

anyway, i hate swans, because in spite of the fact that their overall physical grace is the source of inspiration for ballet etc, up close, they have really ugly faces. and they hiss. that's enough for me to think of gun violence.

In most US jurisdictions there is no legal duty to rescue, absent the existence of a special relationship to the victim or in cases where the bystander created the danger in the first place. Some states here do have laws requiring minimal assistance, such as dialing 911 (US emergency hotline--like 000 in Australia). There are so-called "Good Samaritan" laws, enacted to reduce the potential for liability if you do extend help and either fail or exacerbate the problem as a result. Not sure if those laws have had any kind of positive effect in getting people to voluntarily assist in emergencies.

[Ken Gargett]

never mind the swan video, who has video of this incident. we will pay to see LOL

thankfully pre mobile phones and u tube.

as for suing for non assistance, my guess would be that it would depend on the laws of omission in each jurisdiction. i doubt it would be successful. although a swan sounds relatively harmless, if those there did not realise he was in danger, or did and were genuinely afraid for themselves, be hard to convict. swap shark for swan and would any of us blame someone for not jumping in?

[KRunch61]

Hey Ken-

How safe are your golf courses?!

[Ken Gargett]

Hey Ken-

How safe are your golf courses?!

you need to be careful of snakes if you hit into the rough and way up north, if too close to water hazards, you might get a croc take some interest, though they'd keep an eye on those things. the snakes my major concern, but in reality, touch wood, very few people are killed here by snakes.