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posted by FatPhil on Tuesday August 08 2017, @08:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-let-us-put-you-off-your-breakfast dept.

Sea lice have been blamed (warning: images of bloody legs/feet) for an attack on a teen in Melbourne, Australia:

Locals have got back in the water at a Melbourne beach where a teen was left bleeding profusely from both legs, questioning the theory that sea lice might be to blame. Sam Kanizay, 16, emerged from the water at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton, in Melbourne's southeast, on Saturday covered in what his family said were tiny marine creatures eating his legs. Doctors later struggled to stem the bleeding from scores of what looked like tiny pink-prick bites. His father has since posted a sickening video of the creatures — scooped out of the water with a net and believed to be sea lice — feasting on chunks of raw meat.

[...] Associate Professor at Monash University's School of Biological Sciences Richard Reina, however, was confident Sam's bites were caused by sea lice. "I think it's very rare," Mr Reina told news.com.au. "When it happens you brush it off, or move, or get out of the water and there's no consequence, whereas in this case, Sam was standing in cold water for quite a long time. He probably thought the pins and needles he described was the cold and didn't realise there were crustaceans chewing on his feet."

Meanwhile, others blamed amphipods and even jellyfish larvae:

Jeff Weir, executive director of the Dolphin Research Institute, believes the teen may have been attacked by crustaceans called amphipods, which usually eat decomposing plant and animal scraps. But Thomas Cribb, a parasite expert from the University of Queensland, said it would be very unusual for amphipods to cause such extensive bleeding. "It's not a parasite I've ever come across," he said. Meanwhile, marine expert Michael Brown believes the small bugs eating the meat in the video could be jellyfish larvae.

Marine biologist Genefor Walker-Smith identified samples as lysianassid amphipods. Here's a disturbing video of them swarming on meat.

Australia: unsafe at any sea level.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @12:40PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @12:40PM (#550560)

    The story is interesting and not at all disturbing (although, I came from an era where tricking people to look at shock pictures was fun).

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 08 2017, @04:01PM (1 child)

      by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Tuesday August 08 2017, @04:01PM (#550640) Homepage
      Whenever I come across stories about little critters that anaesthetise you I wonder how many different natural anaesthetics are there, and whether medical science can make use of them. It seems that some of the most common examples, such as the numbing agent in mosquito saliva, aren't precisely identified yet (and indeed, even the mosquito family may use a range of chemicals).

      Even if medical science isn't interested - why aren't those mavericks who want to invent new drugs messing around with such chemicals?!
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @07:11PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 08 2017, @07:11PM (#550712)

        Local anaesthesia is quite boring and venom/saliva are quite complexes. Given the low rewards and difficulties involving these research I understand the lack of interest from those mavericks...

  • (Score: 2) by slinches on Tuesday August 08 2017, @02:12PM (2 children)

    by slinches (5049) on Tuesday August 08 2017, @02:12PM (#550595)

    The kid lives in Australia. What doesn't try to eat people there?

  • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Wednesday August 09 2017, @02:43PM (1 child)

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Wednesday August 09 2017, @02:43PM (#551115)

    When Austrailia sends its organisms, they're not sending their best. They're fishy. They're pests. They're blood-sucking. And some, I assume, are cute (koala bears).

    (top that, realdonaldtrump [really, sometimes they are really funny])

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:58AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:58AM (#554105) Homepage Journal

      I've said it before, Malcolm Turnbull is a LOSER! Just a terrible, terrible person. I talked with him on the phone. Of all the phone calls I've been on, it was the worst by far. He wants to send us refugees. I call them illegal immigrants. Who Australia won't even allow into Australia (they know better). He made a deal with Obama, to send us those people. A dumb deal. For America, it's a very dumb deal. Totally one-sided. I closed my eyes and said we'll do it, but we have to vet them. My judgment told me no, but I said yes. Because promises are important. Even when I didn't make them. Very reluctantly, I'm sticking to the deal. But Malcolm turned around and made fun of me. He mocked me and it's very hurtful. Melania and Barron heard about it and they were very hurt by it. He's the Prime Minister, he has a job to do. Instead he mocks me. While the beautiful, beautiful Australian people -- who I love -- are under attack. Getting attacked viciously at the beach. This boy with blood coming out of his whatever. Bleeding badly. And they have shark attacks like you've never seen in your life. But Malcolm does nothing about it. He begs me to take his illegal immigrants, then he mocks me. Disgusting. 🇺🇸

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 09 2017, @07:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 09 2017, @07:12PM (#551252)

    Australia, not even once!

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