Three minors among six injured after being stung by blue bottle jellyfish in Mumbai

Blue bottles are venomous creatures and while their sting is extremely painful, they are not fatal. Environmentalists told The Indian Express that these creatures do not have mouths and do not bite people.

Shaunak Modi, director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation, said, “The blue bottles’ tentacles are covered in venom cells which, if stepped on, will cause severe pain. Their sting can be extremely painful. Since people usually walk barefoot on the beaches, they accidentally step on the blue bottles, which then causes severe pain.”

Is this the first time that blue bottoms have appeared along Mumbai’s coastline?

According to marine experts, colonies of blue buttons flood Mumbai’s shores every monsoon season. “These animals live in the open sea. However, they often flood the high-tide coastline, not only in Mumbai but throughout the west coast, during the monsoon season owing to strong seasonal winds and water currents. Blue bottoms have very little control on their movement and their floats,” Modi said.

Modi said that this was a natural phenomenon and that one must be careful while walking barefoot on beaches during monsoons. “Often victims who are stung by the blue bottoms rub lemons on the injury or pour water on it. However, this is a wrong approach and they must head to the nearest hospital to receive treatment,” he added.