A local kayaker is sounding the alarm over stinging jellyfish at Barnet Marine Park.
Ann Pickthall and her husband were kayaking the Burrard Inlet near the park and came across what she has identified as lion’s mane jellyfish – some as close as 150 metres from the swimming area.
“I am very scared for swimmers and especially children,” Pickthall told the NOW “People do not know these cause severe burns on touch.”
Lion’s mane jellyfish, considered the largest jellyfish species in the world, have long tentacles (from nine to 36 metres) which they use to capture, pull in, and eat prey such as fish, zooplankton, sea creatures and smaller jellyfish.
Pickthall told the NOW she started noticing the distinctive jellyfish in the winter further out in the Burrard Inlet, but she was alarmed two days ago when she spotted some getting close to the Barnet swimming area.
“This particular one was drifting toward the beach,” she said.
Stings from the tentacles of lion’s mane jellyfish, which can zap you even after they’re dead, are painful but not generally lethal unless the victim is allergic.
Allergies and a lack of awareness about lion’s mane stings are what concern Pickthall most about the jellyfish she saw drifting toward the beach.
“In the emergency rooms here, they would never think of a jellyfish sting from a lion’s mane if a child went in in anaphylaxis,” she said.
Pickthall said she emailed the city with her concerns but got the impression “they’re not worried at all.”
Tracey Tobin, climate action and energy officer at the City of Burnaby, told the NOW jellyfish in coastal waters is a "great indicator of a healthy ocean."
While moon jellyfish are more common in Burnaby, Tobin confirmed there are lion's mane from Salish Sea to Alaska.
"They do have the ability to sting like all jellyfish, but they are in their natural environment," Tobin said in an email response for comment. "Basically it is a look, don’t touch."
Pickthall would like the city to do more.
“I’d like to see signs up there so at least parents know,” she said.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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