Viaje Pagbilao | Attack of the Jellies

...they shouted in pain. I rushed towards them and saw their arms marked with jellyfish stings.


We had a bad encounter with jellyfishes during our Pagbilao trip last sunday. Two of my thesis-mates were stung by jellyfish. I was busy taking pictures of the floating jellyfishes on the other side of the beach when they shouted in pain.

the swimming jellyfishes

I asked them what happened, "ano nagyare sa inyo? (what hapened)"

she answered me, "pumulupot yung mga jellyfish sa braso ko, hindi lang isang jellyfish (more than one jellyfish coiled in my arms)."

"how is it," I asked again.

"Sobrang sakit, sagad hangang buto (extremely painful, extended to the bones)."

"Oh my," by then, I realized that these jellyfishes can paralyze small fishes and can sometimes kill with their venomous stinging cells.

reddened by jellyfish stings

I can see the pain in their eyes, an extreme one. Our thesis adviser told them that freshly voided urine can be the remedy in the absence of vinegar. So they did, without any hesitation, they poured on their arms the urine, still warm from the bladder (sounds irky right?).

Time passed by and the effect of the urine diminished yet the pain of the jellyfish stings were becoming more intense. Until the sting marks swelled.

and it swelled after some time

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Biologist's Zone

a box jellyfish (Class Cubozoa)

Jellyfishes are from Phylum Cnidaria, a phylum in the Kingdom Animalia that possesses cnidocytes or nematocytes or in layman's term, stinging cells. They use these stinging cells to catch prey or defend themselves.

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They can't do anything about it anymore so they just ignored the un-ignorable pain.

After some hours, Kuya Benj, our boatman, caught one jellyfish. Gripping tightly on its slimy umbrella, he showed it to us the culprit. Yayks, it's still moving, still curling its tentacles.

Batang Lakwatsero and the Jellyfish

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Pagbilao Series

Viaje Pagbilao | The Way to the Beaches - Part 1
Viaje Pagbilao | Puting Buhangin and Kuwebang Lampas - Part 2
Viaje Pagbilao | The Attack of the Jellies - Part 3

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