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Walter & Group...
[GH] Finishing up our topic on first aid for marine stings. Some interesting stuff.... Much more than we need to know ! Several links for those interested in more detailed information.
Gordy
>From Mike Heritage....
Have a good trip Gordy.
Sorry to lower the tone but I have not seen any mention of urine. I was under the impression it worked on some stings like jelly fish.
Mike
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[GH] Mike,
Several others have asked this question.
Frankly, I had not heard nor read of urine being helpful.
Of course when freshly produced, it is at approximately the warmth of body temperature ..... so perhaps it does help a bit.
After I got your message, I researched the use of urine for stings and came up with the information in the links, below:
I didn't find one which encouraged me to consider this method.
Best,
Gordy
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[GH] Several years ago, I fished on a S. African team boat, the Billy Pate Sailfish Fly Tournament at Quepos, Costa Rica.
One of our S. African anglers was missing his left thumb. His story :
While trimming mangroves at a skiff dock, he was bitten by one of the most deadly snakes in the World. This was in a remote African fishing village with virtually no access to medical facilities. Realizing in a flash that he was in imminent danger of death, he used his trimming shears to lop off his own thumb; thus using the only "first aid" means to save his own life!!
Gordy
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[GH] Here is a little trick worth knowing:
My son, Kenny, reminded me of a time when he was stung by a Portuguese Man-O-War at a local Florida beach. The tentacles are sometimes reach well over 100' in length.
The broken tentacles remained on the skin of his legs and continued to sting badly even after he'd gotten out of the water. We quickly rubbed his legs with dry sand and found it very effective in literally "sanding off" the remaining stingers.
While these creatures are not uncommon in our S. Florida waters, especially on a prolonged South wind, they are easily seen and avoided. The reason for the name is that they have an iridescent purple/blue air inflated "bag" to float them on the surface with a thin ridge at the top which some fanciful fellow imagined to be reminiscent of the Portuguese warship of yore.
Because of their appearance, they are called "BLUEBOTTLES" in Australia.
We call them, "jellyfish", though they are really colonies of many organisms clustered together.
While yielding very painful stings, I know of no deaths caused by them in our waters.
Caution: These critters can sting even if found dead when washed up on shore. Many children suffer stings because of this as they play on the beaches.
# Sea turtles eat them. They are immune to the toxins. (Gives me heartburn to watch a big loggerhead munching on one.)
Gordy
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[GH] At my own dock in the Florida Keys, there are many octopus. They feed on the crabs and lobsters there. I have never attempted to grasp one, though I know that their bite can be mildly toxic. I used to place a couple of crab traps there, but the critters can get through the small openings and eat the crabs leaving nothing but the shells after they leave.
Fascinating to watch an octopus placed on my dock. The creature may be as much as 20" long... but can get back down to the water by placing one tentacle through a 1/2" opening between the dock boards and then gradually "pouring" its own protoplasm into that single tentacle until almost the entire animal has squeezed into it after which it simply drops below into the water.
An Australian octopus found on the Great Barrier Reef known as the "Blue Ringed Octopus" doesn't sting; rather its bite is extremely poisonous .... capable of causing rapid death. I never actually saw one of them when diving there. My guide described them vividly.
I've been told that there is no effective first aid other than wound pressure and artificial respiration. No antidote for the poison has been developed. *
Gordy
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[GH] I've been asked about covering first aid for stings, bites, etc. which occur while fishing in fresh water. We'll tackle that subject sometime in the future. Meanwhile..... BACK TO CASTING.
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