Sea Lice

Heading to Bimini next month and am wondering if the sea lice are still around. NAsty little buggers! Thanks!

If copepods disappear from the marine ecosystem, it will be a bad day. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> Often some creatures are abundant because of weather conditions, food resources, etc. I don't know about Bimini, but these things are frequently seasonal.

What's your or what is the definition of Sea Lice?

Are you asking me? sea lice

sea lice are the larva from jelly fish and they cause a terrible rash similar to sever poision ivy.

Foul!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Well, the problem with common names is that people call different creatures the same name. You are talking about cnidarians, which are in a whole different phylum from that of copepods. Cnidaria do have stinging potential, that is for sure. I still think that they can be seasonal. I have never heard of "sea lice" in the VI, and from the Wikipedia articles, I see why.

I know during Jellyfish season a lot of the Jellyfish are chopped to pieces by the ferry and pleasure boat props and the small pieces of the stinging tentacles are free to flow with the currents and sometimes wind up in the waters of the beaches.

From DermNet:

Sea bather's eruption is a rash that affects areas of the skin covered by a bathing suit, rather than exposed areas, after swimming in the sea. It is caused by stings from the stinging cells (also called nematocysts) of the larval forms of certain sea anemones and thimble jellyfishes. Sea thimbles are small tropical jellyfish that, even as adults, get no larger than about a centimetre in size. Most cases of sea bather's eruption occur during the summer as it seems to be dependant on water temperature. It affects swimmers, snorkelers, or divers soon after getting out of the water.

Sea bather's eruption has been called sea lice by some. Sea lice is actually due to immature larval forms of parasitic flatworms (schistosomes), penetrating the skin.

So, The way to prevent stings... Go skinny dipping! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

These Sea lice must somehow be related to the Land lice neither can be drowned. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />