What's the first thing you should do if you
ever fall into a pool full of stingrays?
They may look super cute,
but don't let their friendliness fool you.
Because they're also carrying a long,
venomous, serrated stinger
that could kill you at any moment.
The first thing you need to do
when you find yourself
swimming with stingrays
is to keep your feet away from them.
One way to do this would be to stay as
close to the surface as possible.
But another, more fun way, would be to
do something called the "stingray shuffle."
This method involves carefully standing
in the pool and shuffling your feet
along the bottom in
whatever direction you wish to go.
It may look silly,
but if you were to try and walk across the pool,
you'd risk kicking or stepping
on one of the stingrays.
And that would be a quick way
to meet their deadly stinger.
What is it about this thin spiny tail that
can be so dangerous?
The long, sharp spine at the end
of a stingray's tail is known as its barb.
If you were stung by the stingray's barb,
it would cause serious damage because
it would go into your body smoothly,
like a nail,
but its serrated edges would
tear up your tissues on the way out,
like pulling out a screw.
And that's just the beginning!
As the serrated edges sink into you,
the stingray's venom
would flow into your wounds.
The venom is not necessarily fatal, but
it does hurt.
A lot.
It's composed of the enzymes
5-nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase,
and the neurotransmitter serotonin.
If you're wondering why I'd even try to
pronounce these three big names for you,
it's because they're important,
especially the last one.
Serotonin causes smooth muscle
to severely contract,
and this is what makes the venom so painful.
Some victims,
who have been stung in their feet,
say that the pain is like squeezing your foot
in a vise and twisting it.
So let's try to avoid that.
The first thing to keep in mind when you
drop into a pool of stingrays
is that they're naturally docile creatures,
who will only attack in self-defense.
They're so gentle that in the Cayman Islands,
there's even an extremely popular
tourist attraction called Stingray City,
where people feed and swim with
large groups of stingrays.
But even though these stingrays are friendly,
and love being fed,
they still sting some people.
The best way to avoid being stung
is to make sure you don't kick or step
on any of the stingrays.
If a stingray feels threatened,
it will flip its tail upwards over its body,
striking whatever is in front of it.
The stingray
doesn't control the release of its venom,
only the movement of its tail.
If you accidentally step on one and get stung,
you need to get out of the pool
as soon as you can,
without getting stung again.
If the wound is superficial,
it needs to be treated right away.
Pull the stinger out,
and apply pressure on the bleeding
to encourage the venom to come out.
It's important to listen to your body, because
it is possible to have a life-threatening
allergic reaction to the venom.
If you are sure that you're not
having an allergic reaction,
use hot water around 43-46°C (110-115°F),
to kill the venom and relieve the pain.
Once the pain has been relieved,
apply antibiotic ointment
or cream on the wound,
and cover it with bandages.
If the barb has punctured your abdomen,
chest,
throat or neck,
or has completely gone through
a part of your body,
do not remove it.
You need emergency medical treatment
as soon as possible.
But, if you had just followed
our advice from the beginning,
you wouldn't have to worry about any of this,
because you would've been able
to avoid getting stung.
Stingrays aren't really that dangerous
if you treat them right,
so when it comes to
choosing creatures to swim with,
you could do a lot worse.
But that's a story
for another WHAT IF.