Warning: sea lice are popping up all over Gulf Coast beaches, with outbreaks reported along the Florida Panhandle.
Purple flags, which typically indicate stinging jellyfish or other harmful creatures in the water, started to fly along beaches, particularly in the Santa Rosa Beach area. Other areas such as Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, however, still flew yellow flags last week to indicate medium-risk conditions.
“If we do start getting complaints, we change to purple,” said Orange Beach Fire Department beach safety chief Melvin Shepherd in an AL report, adding that local authorities are yet to receive sting complaints.
Sea lice are known by many names — beach lice, Seabather’s eruption, ocean itch and pika-pika, to name a few — but they are simply jellyfish or sea anemone larvae that can sting even though they are microscopic in size.
These mere specks typically invade summer waters in Florida as well as the Caribbean, and they can pester holiday revelers and swimmers with bumps and even flu-like symptoms.
According to the Florida public health department, sea lice have been affecting coastal waters for over a century now, with most recorded outbreaks linked to larvae of the jellyfish Linuche unguiculata.
While visible, they can disappear from sight and migrate inside bathing suits and become trapped in the mesh of the fabric. That’s when they start to sting, CNN reported.
Sea lice’s sting does not hurt like in the case of adult jellies, but a rash appears typically without 24 hours. It can occur alongside fever, chills and headaches and become very itchy and red.
Symptoms are quite mild and usually clear on their own, although there have been cases where severe and flu-like symptoms lasted for weeks. Children are particularly prone to more severe outbreaks, especially if they have allergies or are immune-compromised.
It may be too early to tell how prevalent this year’s sea lice infestation will be despite cases having already been reported on beaches along the Florida coastline. The larvae appear most commonly during April to July, with varying levels of severity every year.
Photo: Mathew Ingram | Flickr
