These sea monsters
have a distinctive curved shape
and up to 24 long and venomous tentacles.
You'll know if one stings you.
The pain is equal
to what you'd be dealing with
after encountering a bee.
Applying ice and cortisone cream
can help relieve the discomfort.
Earning the self-descriptive
purple people-eater title,
it’s found near Australia,
in the North Sea
and throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
Sometimes referred to
as the mauve stinger,
it stays in deep waters during the day,
but at night
you can easily find it near the surface.
Unlike other types of jellies,
this one
also has stinging cells on its head.
Ouch.
Don't let a beached one fool you, though.
Purple jellyfish can sting
even after they're dead.
It doesn’t mind
going for the occasional deep dive,
but this floater prefers
to flow with warmer
surface currents in oceans
across the globe,
The moon jellyfish’s bell
can reach a diameter of 40 cm (16 in).
It has shorter tentacles
compared to other jellies,
but don’t underestimate them.
Their sting releases mucus
that causes pain,
irritation and swelling
that’ll take more than a week to subside.
Here’s a different type of hunter.
This jellyfish has stubby arms
instead of tentacles,
so when it perceives
a threat
it attacks with
its underwater cannonball.
A cloud of mucus
that contains toxins harmful to humans.
Don’t get me wrong,
it still has stingers if you get close.
But its first line of defense
can trigger a heart attack.
You can run into a
lot of these cannonballs in warmer
waters of the Pacific
and Atlantic oceans.
Reaching 15 cm (6 in)
its bell is small enough
to fit in your hand,
but you better not try to hold one.
A single sting can cause
everything from back pain
to a potentially lethal stroke.
Also called the fire jellyfish,
it can easily be mistaken
for a plastic bag in the water.
If you get stung,
make sure to keep the freshwater away
and instead quickly
apply vinegar to help neutralize
any toxins.
It’s the largest jellyfish on Earth.
Its head can be up to 2.4 m (8 ft) wide
and its 1,200 tentacles
can be almost 36 m (120 ft) in length.
Its barbs have a
reddish or yellow color
that resembles a lion’s mane
and they release a neurotoxic venom
that can kill almost any prey.
You can find this giant in the Arctic,
the North Pacific
and the North Atlantic oceans.
The most important thing to do
in case of a painful sting
is to get to shore quickly.
You may have pieces of tentacle
stuck to you,
so try to remove them
with either
a stick or tweezers and douse
the area with warm water.
Even though technically
this isn’t a jellyfish,
it can sting like one.
Or should I say a few of them.
This creature is a siphonophore,
a colony of organisms working together.
Each colony has its own
tasks and can't survive
without the others.
Man o’ wars don’t swim,
but rather get propelled
by ocean currents.
This way of floating makes it
look like
the sails of warships
used in the 18th century.
Their sting can be quite painful,
but try to stay still.
If you start thrashing around,
you can get caught in the tentacles
and suffer multiple stings
that can trigger anaphylactic shock.
This might be the world's
smallest jellyfish,
but it sure goes big with the venom.
Its bell is the size of a sugar cube
and its four tentacles
won’t grow longer than 1 m (3 ft),
but they’ll sting you so fast
that you can’t possibly dodge it.
The result is so nasty
it's been branded
Irukandji syndrome.
You’ll be suffering
horrendously painful muscle cramps,
a feeling
like your skin is on fire and vomiting.
If it's not treated quickly,
it can be lethal.
There is no antivenom available
for the Irukandji sting,
so all you can do
is treat the symptoms
and sweat things out
until the venom clears your system.
The runner-up of this list looks.
a little different.
Its bell is cube-shaped,
and its 15 tentacles
can be as long as 3m (10 ft).
It's a speedy swimmer,
but if you get stung
you better be the one swimming fast.
You’d feel muscle cramps,
constriction of the throat and delirium.
Once the venom enters your body,
it can stop your heart within 30 seconds.
The well-earned top spot
goes to the most venomous
marine animal there is.
It lives within the ocean waters
surrounding Australia
and Southeast Asia,
and unlike most other jellies
it can actively swim
and choose the directions
it wants to go.
If you get stung by this jellyfish,
you could be left paralyzed
while dealing with cardiac arrest.
If enough venom is released,
you can die in just a few minutes.
Luckily for you, there’s an antivenom
that can save your life.
Let’s
just hope
you can make it to the hospital before
it's too late.
If you spend enough time in the ocean,
you’ll realize there’s more than one
small creature trying to kill you.
Like this cute mollusk
whose colors can change.
And you better pay attention to them
like your life depends on it,
‘cause it just might.
But we can always help you
with that
here, on How to Survive.