My son and his friend were playing in the waves of Sosua Beach the other day, when they came across a cuter little fuzzy worm washed up on the beach. The curiosity got the best of them and they picked it up. The friend had decided to scare my son by putting the worm on his bare shoulder. In the next instant they were both feeling excruciating pain where the worm made contact with their skin. My son developed large raised hives on his shoulder and felt sharp burning pain and numbness in the entire arm for the next 24 hours. The local doctor treated it as acute contact dermatitis and prescribed topical Benadryl. Luckily the symptoms subsided after two days but I would like to warn other beach combers of this little creature ? its bristles are full of toxin and it?s named not for its bright colours but the stinging fire you will feel if you touch one.
For more information, please click here: Bearded Fireworm, Hermodice carunculata at MarineBio.org
For more information, please click here: Bearded Fireworm, Hermodice carunculata at MarineBio.org