Word: jellyfish
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...municipalities have prohibited swimming when the glob-to-human ratio gets too high. Such bans risk provoking the wrath of sweaty vacationers, but the alternative can be grim: on July 15 alone, rescue crews were called to the beaches of suburban Nice nearly 500 times to treat people for jellyfish stings...
...Though jellyfish stings don't match shark attacks as a threat to human life - fatalities are usually linked to a few highly toxic species or (more frequently) shock and drowning resulting from multiple stings to people who swim into dense shoals - some French towns battling la meduse have adapted defensive methods from shark-plagued resorts elsewhere in the world. Cannes, for example, has invested nearly $50,000 in floaters and netting to create jellyfish-free zones the size of Olympic swimming pools at two of its most popular beaches. Similar systems have been deployed in Monaco and along certain sections...
...news, according to experts, is that there's more of that gummy pain on the way. Overfishing and other destructive human activity have prompted the prolific multiplication of jellyfish by decimating their natural predators: tuna, sharks and turtles. That, and the fact that global warming has raised the water temperature of the Mediterranean by a degree, have produced an explosion of the jellyfish population and a prolonged presence of the creatures in waters where humans like to flounder. Traditionally, scientists say, jellyfish turn up along France's coastline every 10 to 12 years, for a period of four to five...
...Some Europeans have simply factored Pelagia noctiluca into their beach experience. Full-body Lycra suits designed to shield the skin from UV sun rays have become hot commodities this summer, according to Nice scuba-shop owner Stéphane Pinier, ever since people discovered that the garments also block jellyfish tentacles. Of course, choosing that method of avoiding the sting can itself be painful: the ungainly getup costs nearly...
...with drinking water, rubbing it with sand, trying to suck the venom from it and - especially - urinating on it. These "therapies," doctors say, are all certain to aggravate the sting's burning sensation, and the last one ... well, it's not only useless and disgusting, it adds insult to jellyfish injury...