Jellyfish are some of the most
dangerous creatures in the ocean.
Just touching the wrong one
can lead to a swift death.
And now,
these people are swimming with millions of them.
But how?
And what would happen if you chose to swim
with millions of jellyfish?
The jellyfish's venomous sting
is extremely dangerous.
Just brushing against a jellyfish
can result in incredible pain.
Their stings harm over 150 million people each year.
If you were to jump into a pool full of jellyfish,
is there any way you could avoid their deadly stings?
As soon as you jumped into the pool full of jellyfish,
you'd immediately want to check your surroundings
to see what you're dealing with.
Jellyfish come in all shapes and sizes.
They range from the lion's mane jellyfish
that's longer than a blue whale
to the moon jellyfish that's just 5 cm (2 in) long.
Heh. Kind of cute.
Many of the jellyfish
you might experience here
would move with the current of the water.
After all, jellyfish
don't have brains
so they don't have much control over their movement.
But some species,
like the box jellyfish,
are much more dangerous.
These jellyfish are different
as they hunt their prey.
But regardless of whether or not
this jellyfish is hunting you,
jumping in a pool full of thousands of them
would definitely end up with you getting stung.
And if you get stung,
regardless of the type of jellyfish,
you would immediately feel a burning or pricking sensation.
This sting would eventually turn purple,
then start to itch and swell.
Over time, the pain would spread beyond the sting site
and reach other parts of your body.
But if this is all that happened,
you'd be pretty lucky.
At this point, you could get out of the pool,
remove the tentacles from your skin,
and the sting would heal itself over time.
You might need some painkillers,
but overall you'd survive.
And no,
don't try to pee on it.
The water and sodium in your urine
can agitate the stinger,
causing it to spread even more venom.
But you ending up with just a little sting
is incredibly unlikely in this scenario.
Especially if you're swimming with box jellyfish.
Their sting wouldn't just bring you some pain and irritation.
If you were swimming
and happened to be stung by one of these,
it could make you feel weak,
drowsy, and you might even start to have muscle spasms.
This could easily cause you to drown.
And if more jellyfish came to sting you,
you'd be feeling incredible pain all over your body.
Someone else would need to pull you out of the water,
as you'd most likely pass out at this point.
And as soon as you got out of the pool,
you'd need to immediately get antivenom in your system.
That's because a box jellyfish sting
releases a venom that can stop your heart
in as little as five minutes.
And if you didn't get the antivenom in time,
you could die.
So it's safe to say that swimming with jellyfish
could be incredibly dangerous.
But this isn't the only way swimming with jellyfish has to end up.
There's a place in Palau
known as Jellyfish Lake
that has hundreds of thousands of
golden jellyfish swimming about.
This species is completely safe to swim with
as their sting is so mild you might not even notice it
So if you happened to fall into this lake with all these jellyfish,
you'd be completely fine.
In fact, it would be a beautiful and breathtaking experience.
Another experience that might also take your breath away, literally,
would be swimming in a pool full of sharks.
But we'll leave that story, for another WHAT IF.