Tiny mysterious sea creatures attacked and bloodied an Australian teen's legs - here's what they probably were
Australia Pool via AP
- Australian teen Sam Kanizay's legs were chewed up by mysterious creatures at a beach near Melbourne, Australia.
- Initial reports called the flesh-eating creatures "sea lice" - which refers to more than 500 species of parasites.
- The culprits are now thought to be lysianassid amphipods, scavenging crustaceans sometimes called "sea fleas".
There are all kinds of strange, fascinating, and occasionally terrifying creatures in the ocean.
The latest to capture public attention - especially among people fascinated by Australia's long list of deadly animals - are the mysterious sea creatures that chewed and bloodied the legs of Sam Kanizay.
The 16-year-old went for a soak at a Melbourne-area beach after playing football, and reportedly emerged from the water feeling like he needed to brush sand from his legs. But his family quickly noticed he was bleeding profusely from what looked like hundreds of tiny pin holes. They rushed him to the hospital, where puzzled staff tried to figure out what caused the pools of blood to form around Kanizay's ankles. (A graphic photo of the wounds can be found near the bottom of this post.)
Australia Pool via AP
Initially, a number of reports referred to the culprits as "sea lice," a term that refers to more than 500 species of parasites that feed on fish.
But Kanizay's father decided to return to the beach to see if he could draw out the flesh-eaters again. He dropped little hunks of meat into the water, and saw that they were promptly swarmed by tiny scavenging crustaceans, as shown in the YouTube video below.
Marine biologist Genefor Walker-Smith of Museums Victoria identified the creatures as lysianassid amphipods, little scavengers that are sometimes called "sea fleas."
She said the creatures do occasionally bite, but not with the severity that was evident in Kanizay's case.
(Warning: the following image is bloody.)
Australia Pool via AP
"It was just unlucky. It's possible he disturbed a feeding group but they are generally not out there waiting to attack like piranhas," Walker-Smith said.
Still, the presence of these crustaceans in the water doesn't prove they are the ones that attacked Kanizay's ankles. People have often mistakenly blamed sea lice for bites by jellyfish larvae in Florida and the Caribbean. And the ocean is full of other animals that may occasionally decide that something sitting there looks worth a taste - though these incidents are rare.
Marine ecologist Alistair Poore gave Australian Broadcasting Corp. his best advice for avoiding these sorts of creatures in the rare event that they appear:
"Swim faster."
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- 9 health benefits of drinking sugarcane juice in summer
- 10 benefits of incorporating almond oil into your daily diet
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore