As some of you enjoy water activities, when you look down to the seabed, it often seems to be uniform with stones and corals, but were there truly only corals and fish? What may be happening down there at the seabed, is far more interesting than what we can see!
The ocean is full of masters of camouflage and meet the master of camouflage of all fish, the stonefish. Stonefish is the deadliest fish in the ocean. This is the reason why you should always wear protective shoes/fins and do not touch anything with bare hands in the water. Stonefish, as its name suggest looks just like a stone, even if it is right in front of your eyes, you may find it hard to spot. It has thirteen sharp dorsal spines on its back, which each have extremely toxic venom. The venom of a stonefish can kill a human in two hours.Stonefish commonly dwells in shallow water (about 3meters depth) although it can be found in much greater depths. They often cling to algae covered rocks where it anchors itself effectively to the seabed, merging perfectly with the background. It uses suction power to feed on fish and shrimps that passes by.
The greatest danger of being stung is when wading through the shallows, across the reef-top, and especially near the reef-edge. When walking it is a good idea to shuffle one foot in front of the other rather than to take big strides in which each foot is raised up and then placed down onto the seabed with the risk of landing on a stonefish. The shuffle motion will increase the likelihood that you scare a stonefish away from your tracks rather than precipitate its ire by descending from on high onto its potentially lethal spines.
13 spines on the back of a stonefish.
In the event that you are stung by a stonefish do not panic. Although the pain will be excruciating stonefish stings are generally not fatal. When the stonefish is trodden on, or otherwise angered, the spines lock into an erect position and poison is injected into the foot or other offending body-part. The poison itself is an unstable, high molecular weight, protein that has an effect upon muscles including respiratory and heart muscle. Early symptoms after a poisoning include :
Airways and lungs
o Difficulty breathing
Heart and blood
o Collapse
Skin
o Bleeding
o Severe pain at the site of the sting
o Whitened colour of the area around the site of the sting
o Colour of the area changes as the amount of oxygen supplying the area
decreases.
Stomach and intestines
o Abdominal pain
o Diarrhoea
o Nausea
o Vomiting
Nervous system
o Delirium
o Fainting
o Fever (from infection)
o Headache
o Muscle twitching
o Seizures
o Paralysis
What To Do when someone get stung by stonefish?
1. Find a source of HOT water. (NOT boiling but as hot as patient can stand
without physically scalded).
2. Clean the wound, remove any debris, place the site of wound into hot water for at
least an hour. (Poison denatures at temp of 50 degrees celcius in laboratory)
3. The patient should be made to lie down and the injured foot (or other body-part)
should be elevated above the rest of the body
4. If potassium permanganate is available, a weak 5% solution of this can be used to
wash out the wound.
Here is a video of stonefish. Enjoy!
Recently have to say goodbye to a group of friends who I get to know very well after 5 weeks of rotation. Some people you only see once in life, and wonder when you going to meet them again. It is the beauty of life to get to meet different people everyday, though its always difficult to say goodbye. I hope them well and will always keep them in my prayers. Please be safe till we meet again.
Love The Ocean. Protect The Ocean.
For more information, visit :
http://www.australianfauna.com/stonefish.php
http://arabianwildlife.uaeinteract.com/archive/vol2.1/stone.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002854.htm
