“Attack of the Cnidarians...”

It came without warning, with no prior indication of its presence, and left again unseen, but the damage had been done. I felt as though someone had placed a hot curling iron on my leg, on my upper right calf to be exact, and the pain was intense. I didn’t know whether I had been bitten or stung, if I was in danger of being eaten, or what. Here I was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, paddling back out into position after an unsuccessful attempt to catch a wave at the scary rock reef point break with the unpredictable hungry monster of a wave when the attack happened. Having not experienced a pain like this before in the ocean, I was unsure as to what had happened. I quickly scanned the water, looking for the culprit, but no sign was left behind. Now with self preservation on my mind, I looked down at my leg, but saw no bite marks, no bleeding, so I must have been stung by something. Was that something still here? Were there others around waiting to inflict the same pain on me? I cautiously continued paddling to hopefully evade my invisible assailant.

It would become clear this morning from the tell tale signs of the raised series of lines and bumps at the point of attack that I had fallen victim to a Cnidarian. Cnidarians are a Phylum in the Kingdom Animalia, as we are part of the Phylum Chordata, then further divided into Class, Order, Family, Genus, and finally species. This nefarious Phylum houses a plethora of bizarre alien-like creatures, all of whom inhabit the seas and oceans. The name of the phylum comes from specialized cells called cnidocytes that contain an array of toxins used to subdue or kill prey before consumption. And probably by this point you are wondering just what the heck I’m talking about. Well, common members of the Phylum that you may be aware of are anemones, coral, and more focal to my story, jellyfish.

While jellyfish move through the water with a hypnotizing grace, they are indeed packed with stinging cnidocyte cells along the lengths of their many tentacles. Often translucent, it is quite difficult to see one alongside you in the water, especially if your mind is concentrating on making it over that next deadly wave peak to safety. My experience with jellyfish in the past has been mildly unpleasant, usually encountering them upon your paddling hands. It almost feels as though you have put your hand into a wet Kleenex, and by the time you go to pull it off, it unleashes the fury of many contacting cnidocysts to inject some type of painful toxin into your skin. There are many very dangerous jellyfish out there, quite capable of not only ruining your day, but rendering you soon dead, but my experience has been mainly with small jellyfish that leave you with a painful souvenir that gradually fades away. This instance however was far more painful and covered a much larger area than any experience I had had before, but I will live to encounter jellyfish again, and will be no more the wiser for the experience, for these stealthy little enigmas floating through the ocean will not be noticed until you have experienced the full fury of their cnidocytes.

Tyler.