- Time for me to take two stings
from the Portuguese Man O' War.
Two sting sites, two different antidotes.
Which one works the best?
You're about to find out.
Ooh, man, I'm getting nervous.
Terror of the ocean, here we go.
One, two, three.
Ooh, man, that one nailed me.
(dramatic upbeat music)
One of the things I almost see
in every single comment section is,
"Mark, when are you going to take a sting like, Coyote?"
(Coyote screaming)
Well, truth be told, I do get stung
by quite a few things on our adventures
but one of the things we have not featured yet
that I'm stung by all the time is of course the jelly fish.
I'm hearing a lot of bad information out there
about how to treat a jellyfish sting
and what the sting is actually doing.
So, when I decided that we're gonna make this video
I was like, what jelly fish should I get stung by?
A little tiny one out on a reef?
Oh no, I need to go big.
We're talking the baddest, the terror of the ocean,
the Portuguese Man O' War. (electronic music)
That one.
Yes, that's exactly what we're looking for today.
Now, when the wind blows a certain direction
the Portuguese Man O' War will actually
wash up on the beaches here in Florida.
Sometimes by the hundreds.
Actually, I think I see one right up there.
All right, here we go.
These are two pretty good looking Man O' War right there.
Ooh, careful guys, you don't wanna get hit by...
That is dangerous.
If I get whipped by that, we're gonna get stung
way sooner than I want to.
So, everyone knows this is the end for them.
When they wash up on the beach here
they will unfortunately dry out
and that's kind of it, circle of life.
So, the fact that we're taking these two today
for our experiment is totally a good use
for their end of life.
And boy, do they look beautiful.
But sometimes with beauty comes pain.
And this, is a super painful jar.
All right, let's head up out of the wind
and take a closer look.
I remember these tables except
all of the shoots before this one,
I was on the other side of the camera.
So yeah, this is a little bit different than I'm used to.
In this bucket, we have a variety
of different sting remedies.
Some of them good, some of them not so good.
And that's the reason why I wanted
to make this video in the first place.
Let's talk about the organism, the creature,
the Portuguese Man O' War (electronic music).
Are we gonna do that every time?
The Portuguese Man O' War.
Although it looks like one,
the Portuguese Man O' War is not actually a jellyfish.
It is a siphonophore.
Unlike a jellyfish, which can survive on their own,
siphonophores are a group of colonized organisms
made up of clone cells.
Each group are responsible for specific tasks
to keep the Man O' War alive.
Some cells form the float,
which suspend the organism on the water surface
and create a sail to move the wind.
Others are responsible for hunting prey.
And this is where we meet the venom filled nematocysts.
These small, but potent cells cover the Man O' War
stinging tentacles by the thousands.
And within each is a spiral shaped barb
which literally blasts out
when making contact with its victim.
When these barbs penetrate the skin,
they release a cocktail of enzymes
very similar to snake venom.
These enzymes are designed to incapacitate prey
and in my case will cause instantaneous pain.
This animal is notorious for its sting.
In fact, it stings thousands of people
here in the State of Florida every single year.
I luckily have never taken a sting until now.
Time for me to take two stings
from the Portuguese Man O' War.
In order to compare the effectiveness
of the most famous remedies
to being stung by a Portuguese Man O' War,
today I'll be taking two stings
side-by-side on the same arm.
One of them to be treated with urine,
the controversial yet universally accepted cure
to all marine creatures stings.
And on the other, I will spray white vinegar,
the suggested first aid
from University of Hawaii research article.
Then while enduring the venom from both stings
I will attempt to describe which of these two remedies
relieves my pain the best.
Two sting sites, two different antidotes.
Which one works the best?
You're about to find out.
Please do not attempt to do what I'm doing here today.
(tense dramatic music)
Oh gosh, so nervous I can't even get a hold of it.
Okay, guys, I think I got it.
You ready?
- [Man] Ready.
- Okay, here we go.
About to take, oh God, that looks horrible.
Ooh, man, I'm getting nervous.
Here we go.
(tense dramatic music)
About to take two stings from the Portuguese Man O' War.
You guys get your shots ready
cause this is only gonna happen one time.
Terror of the ocean, here we go.
One, two, three.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(screams) Yup, it's getting in.
Oh, yeah, I can feel it.
(Mike screams)
That's like electric.
Yeah, that's one.
Wow! It burns right away.
Second sting.
I gotta do this fast before it gets too bad.
Ready, you guys ready?
One, two, three.
(Mike screams)
Oh man, that one nailed it.
(dramatic upbeat music)
Okay, so, instant almost tingly
electrical feeling sting.
A lot different than a bee sting or a wasp.
Oh man, those are really getting in there, I can feel it.
Now, likely there are still hundreds of nematocysts there.
Oh yeah, they are erupting as I'm talking to you right now.
I can feel them individually firing like pow, pow, pow.
Like a series of bullets going into my skin.
Woo! Yeah. (chuckles)
(tense dramatic music)
You could see it getting red on both sides.
Now, sting site one, up here at the top.
Sting site two, down here at the bottom.
I can actually see remanence from the tentacles
and those likely have many nematocysts in them
and it is getting worse and worse with every second.
Oh man, this is bad.
You do not want to get stung by a Portuguese Man O' War.
If I were a fish right now, I'd be in big trouble.
In fact, I would likely already be in complete paralysis
and this Man O' War would be reeling me in for dinner.
Okay, let the healing begin, as they say.
All right, there's two steps to this.
One, spray on the agent.
Two, use a plastic card because you wanna scrap off
as many of those nematocysts
that have yet to explode as you can.
First sight vinegar.
Here we go.
Ooh yeah, smells like vinegar.
Now, the one I'm dreading.
Gross this is so disgusting, this is so nasty.
All right, you guys are a little down wind
so you might wanna prepare to duck and cover.
All right, here we go.
Ooh man, I don't wanna splash my face.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, it stinks.
Okay, that's enough.
Scraping off those active nematocysts
is certainly part of the equation.
So you don't wanna forget that step.
I can actually see my skin pulse.
You guys, you see my skin going up and down there.
All the nerves in my arm right now are probably
just screaming like, ah, intruder.
We have venom.
I feel so much better already.
It feels like I'm on the road to healing.
Man, it still burns down.
So, now it's just more of the burning.
Okay, I think I'm ready to make
a declaration of sorts at this point.
Vinegar not only more sanitary,
but definitely wins the contest.
This is by far the least of the two when it comes to pain.
The urine site, not only is it absolutely disgusting
but it definitely burns a little worse
and I could definitely feel a distinction between the two.
So I'm gonna go and call it.
Vinegar, is the definitive antidote that you want to use
if you want to neutralize stinging cells on your skin.
Urine, not your best friend when it comes
to a jellyfish sting or a Man O' War sting for that matter.
And there is one last step that will truly
alleviate the pain symptoms that I'm feeling in my arm.
Good old fashioned hot water.
The reason hot water is the ultimate antidote
to a Man O' War sting is because the heat from the water
will actually denature the proteins in the venom
rendering them inert, completely harmless.
And then it's just up to my body and my immune system
to do the clean up work and I'll be as good as new.
Oh, my gosh, guys this is...
I've never had a hot compress feel so good.
Like immediate relief.
And I hope everybody watching
not only enjoy this little experiment
but learn something to take home with you.
Don't use urine, use vinegar to treat
jellyfish stings or Man O' War stings.
And at the end of the day, hot compress
is going to be your real solution.
While I did experience slight discomfort
for the next few hours,
the scrape and heat treatment reduced my pain
to that of a mild sunburn.
And by the next day, nearly all signs of redness
had vanished and I was as good as new.
So, next time you're on the beach
and you see a Man O' War, avoid it.
But just in case you don't,
some white vinegar and a hot compress seem to do the trick.
So yeah, you should leave your pee in the toilet.
And if you wanna learn more about what's going on here
we do have the article from the University of Hawaii
in the description.
There's more science, there's more facts in there
we weren't able to cover this afternoon.
But I do wish you the good fortune
to never encounter a Man O' War for yourself
so you can avoid a sting like this.
I'm Mark Vins.
Be brave, stay away from Man O' War.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right, go ahead.
Cue the music one more time.
Man O' War (electric music).