{"id":4799,"date":"2012-06-17T01:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=4799"},"modified":"2012-06-16T20:30:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-17T06:30:14","slug":"postcard-from-the-reef-hydroid-stings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=4799","title":{"rendered":"Postcard from the Reef – Hydroid Stings"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is not a case of “I wish you were here”, but rather another lesson in the many hazards of diving.<\/p>\n

\"Hydroid<\/a>
The welts left behind by hydroid stings across a forearm one day after the injury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know when I got hit, a series of pricks down my left forearm. I didn’t even react, I was concentrating on the photo. I continued to brace myself against the surge by using the rocks of the cave floor. Those rocks were home to some little critters that had an issue with the disturbance I was creating… Hydroids.<\/p>\n

Through the rest of the dive my arm continued to sting, discomfort that persisted but was not really all that bad. I took no action other than noting that I had gotten hit. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized that the stings were not going to go away quickly. I had a series of red welts across my forearm, and they itched. Time to break out the hydrocortisone cream. A week later the welts have faded and shrunk to pinpoints, no longer itch, but are still there.<\/p>\n

\"Hydroids\"<\/a>
An unidentified hydroid hanging off a lobe coral (Porites lobata) Kohala Coast at about 70ft<\/figcaption><\/figure>The angry red welts did attract comment all week, they were rather noticable. I have had to explain what hydroids are a number of times. These small relatives of jellyfish posses the same defensive armament, stinging cells called nematocysts<\/a>. As soon as you mention jelly stings the stories come out, most everyone on this tropical island has gotten stung at some point.<\/p>\n

Friday evening we stopped into the shop of Kohala Divers for a bit. There were a few folks we know in the shop as they were having an open house. As I chatted with Lina Preskitt, a local marine biologist, I mentioned the stings, showing her my forearm. She raised her forearm to display a very similar set of red welts on her left arm! We laughed as we looked at a mirror of almost identical stings.<\/p>\n

This is the second time I have been seriously stung by hydroids. Will it stop me from diving? Not at all. Perhaps be a bit more careful when mucking about on a cave floor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is not a case of “I wish you were here”, but rather another lesson in the many hazards of diving. I know when I got hit, a series of pricks down my left forearm. I didn’t even react, I was concentrating on the photo. I continued to brace myself against the surge by using … Continue reading “Postcard from the Reef – Hydroid Stings”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,5],"tags":[2100,478,37,479],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}