We are in the midst of a monthly invasion. Their stay is brief, often less than three days but when they arrive they wreak havoc.
They arrive like clock work. Seven to 10 days after a full moon, the Hawaiian box jellyfish spawn along our southern shores. A painful visit courtesy of Mother Nature.
"I think folks may start to become relaxed a bit -- and then when it spikes up again -- become alarmed and so that sort of impedes our ability to do things in a sustain fashion," said Assistant Research Professor Angel Yanagihara of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Yanagihara has studied the mysterious creatures for 10 years. After examining monthly and annual averages since 1997, she anticipates 2009 will be a busy year. "And we've noted is about a eight year periodicity in the waxing and the waning of the animal numbers. Is adding up to be a bumper crop - like 2001 was."
A year when researchers gathered 10-thousand 261 animals. 2008 wasn't too shabby either with nearly 85-hundred, including nearly 25-hundred in the month of November alone. It's these large influxes that motivate Yanagihara to learn about the venom in order to design appropriate treatment.
"So that in cases where we have 25-hundred animals unexpectedly in a given month -- we have the capacity to deal with the emergency situation and the care and just the nuisance factor that it bring with it," said Yanagihara.
This current invasion altered Sunday's Honolulu Triathlon. Organizers opted to eliminate the swimming leg of the event after more than 100 animals surfaced. Invasions have also shut down Hanauma Bay in the past...and here's why. This is high-speed video of what happens when your are stung.
"If you can imagine yourself being poked by thousands of microscopic spiny splinters and having just that physical element left in the skin," said Yanagihara. "They are about a quarter of the diameter of a human hair."
Yanagihara knows all about that.
"I have my inhaler and epi-pen because I have had severe respiratory response to them myself. About 1 percent of the population does experience anaphylactic type respiratory failure and or distress with the sting so it has my full respect. I was cared for once by an ambulance at the beginning of all this."
She endures the pain so someday we can feel less pain.
Tuesday: How researchers gather these animals, waking up well before the crack of dawn to do so.
