Originally published at: Two men are airlifted from the middle of the ocean after a tiny but deadly jellyfish stings them | Boing Boing
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For background, Irukandji syndrome and the Irukandji jellyfish are named after a Queensland aboriginal nation, who had stories about why you shouldn’t go swimming at certain times of year: basically, because there was a chance that you’d just go under the waves and the sea would take you.
Irukundji syndrome was proven to be because of the jellyfish when a biologist named Jack Barnes, in 1961, tested it by brushing himself, a volunteer lifeguard, and his own 9 year old son with a jellyfish he’d just caught in the sea near Cairns.
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New Zealand is sounding like a much better dream trip.
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… although he received widespread acclaim for his discovery, Barnes was said to be “disappointed and puzzled” that he did not also receive the Father of the Year Award for 1961, apparently because judges felt that deliberately exposing your pre-teen child to lethal toxins might possibly be disqualifying.
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Two of my biggest fears in life: Being trapped in a tight space while spelunking and this @#&*ing jellyfish.
Both are pretty far from my reality, so will only haunt my dreams.
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Like with tetrodotoxin, there is no known antivenom for Irukandji venom, and treatment is only supportive, according to NCBI. Experts recommend immediately dousing the sting area with vinegar because its acidic properties can prevent the barbs from releasing their venom, according to QAS.
Of all the things one would never really contemplate taking into the ocean on an excursion, it’s a bottle of vinegar.
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The box jellyfish is also quite the poisonous creature. On the plus side, we may be getting an antidote soon, as this video discusses that possibility:
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As a Scout, we were taught to always be prepared. That engendered in me a lifelong habit of always carrying both baking soda and vinegar with me everywhere I go. You never know when a high-stakes, life-or-death elementary school science fair will spontaneously breakout around you.
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Sum of all fears (or possibly the product):
- You’re trapped in a tight space while spelunking
- The cave is partially flooded
- The water level is slowly rising
- The water is full of irukandji jellyfish
(There’s probably a cocaine-maddened grizzly bear with a chainsaw in there somewhere too, but by this point, that’s a mere detail).
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Well, I guess one might send up a baking soda bottle rocket, or send a message via invisible ink. 
https://www.armandhammer.com/articles/fun-and-easy-stem-activities-with-baking-soda-and-vinegar
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look on the bright side, at least there aren’t any snakes
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Why not choose Nunavut this year? At least polar bears are big enough to see.
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Sum of all fetishes more like it… hooo nelly
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Don’t mean to be pedantic, but the title says “middle of the ocean” and the article says “12 miles off the coast”. 12 miles isn’t close by but it’s not exactly the “middle of the ocean” either. May have even been within sight of land.
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[if] you really want to be pedantic, it’s a sea:
( late edit to add a missing word )
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It’s standard equipment for summer swimming on the Australian east coast from Sydney north. It works on all stinging jellyfish, so it’s also useful against bluebottles and Portuguese Men’o’war.
If you don’t have any with you, swim at a beach with lifeguards: they will almost certainly have some.
And if you last the day without needing it, you can use some on your chips when you get fish and chips on the way home.
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Not if they were swimming, even if they were standing at sea level on a raft the best they could hope for is approximately 3 miles/5 km.
Yes, but I still wouldn’t call that the “middle of the ocean”.
