Latest Cnidocyte Stories

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Home remedies for jellyfish stings - such as vinegar, alcohol, meat tenderizer, baking soda and urine -may be less effective at relieving pain than plain hot water and lidocaine, according to a paper published online Tuesday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Evidence-Based Treatment of Jellyfish Stings in North America and Hawaii") http://www.annemergmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ymem/ntward.pdf. (Logo:...

New research from the University of California shows how the ability to detect light could have evolved before anything like an eye. As published today (March 5) in the journal BMC Biology, the research is based on the stinging mechanism in the tiny, brainless and eyeless freshwater polyp Hydra magnipapillata. Part of a group of animals called cnidarians that includes sea anemones, corals and jellyfish, a hydra is essentially a mouth surrounded by tentacles armed with stinging cells, or...

Company product line announces expansion in response to world wide market demand. Newly formulated 5% acetic acid pain relief solution to meet dermatologist recommended, safe, effective jellyfish sting first aid protocol. Miami, FL (PRWEB) October 31, 2011 Ocean Care Solutions, specializing in State of the Art Marine Life First Aid Kits, is announcing the addition of a newly formulated jellyfish sting relief solution to their signature line of marine sting products. Ocean Care Solutions'...

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have discovered a new sea anemone that is thought to have established itself in Swedish waters. Larvae from similar anemones cause skin problems for sea bathers in the USA.Researchers at the Department of Marine Ecology at the University of Gothenburg have been following the invasion of the American comb jellyfish, Mnemiopsis, for several years. They have now discovered that it contains larvae from another species: a sea anemone that lives on it as...

Research could help lead to antivenoms and treatmentsWith thousands of stinging cells that can emit deadly venom from tentacles that can reach ten feet in length, the 50 or so species of box jellyfish have long been of interest to scientists and to the public. Yet little has been known about the evolution of this early branch in the animal tree of life.In a paper published November 18 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, NOAA researchers Allen Collins, Bastian Bentlage and Cheryl Lewis...

SAVANNAH, Ga., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Jellyfish Squish(TM), an FDA compliant solution that works within minutes to relieve the pain of jellyfish stings, was recently proved to be effective on stings caused by the Portuguese man-of-war. Jellyfish Squish(TM) is produced by Coastal Solutions, Inc. in Savannah, Ga., and can be purchased online and at select stores including drug stores and beach supply stores. In May of 2009 Dr. Peter Verity, a world renowned marine biologist at the Skidaway...

By Kirk Moore, Asbury Park Press, N.J. Jul. 3--When David Nolte got his family a 32-foot Catalina sailboat, he knew they'd need one more piece of equipment to enjoy Chesapeake Bay. A few years later, he bought the company that makes it. Now an alarming northward advance of stinging sea nettle jellyfish is bringing the Nettle Net Boat Pool company new business from New Jersey. Boaters and waterfront homeowners along Barnegat Bay, the Navesink River and other Shore waterways are a...

Clashing colonies of sea anemones fight as organized armies with distinct castes of warriors, scouts, reproductives and other types, according to a new study.The sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima lives in large colonies of genetically identical clones on boulders around the tide line. Where two colonies meet they form a distinct boundary zone. Anemones that contact an animal from another colony will fight, hitting each other with special tentacles that leave patches of stinging cells...