Nightmare Irukandji Jellyfish With a Sting So Pain

Deadly, venomous jellyfish are lurking in the waters off the Gold Coast of Australia this week, ready to sting anyone who gets too close. A group called Surf Life Saving Queensland issued a warning Wednesday for beachgoers to stay out of the water after they put out a “stinger drag,” which catches sea creatures so that people know what’s in the water. The drag caught a tiny jellyfish that was later identified as the Irukandji, leading to a warning to stay on land.

According to a local news station, the invasion of the venomous creatures could cause Secure remote networks a “collapse” of Queensland tourism. The weather this week in the area calls for temperatures in the high 70’s, 80’s and 90’s Fahrenheit, so swimming would be an ideal activity if it weren’t for the tiny, threatening creatures in the water.

The sting of a Irukandji Jellyfish is excruciating, leading to six to 12 hours of intense pain, nausea, vomiting, cramps, profuse sweating and “feelings of doom,” according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview with jellyfish scientist Lisa Gershman. The stings are so extreme that sometimes victims go into cardiac arrest and die and when they don't, victims have been known to beg doctors to kill them to light industrial get it over with, Gershman says.

All this is delivered by a slimy, brainless, opaque animal about as the nail on your pinky finger. It’s nearly impossible to see them in the water, and their stings are invisible.