2023-05-16 16:01:24
Stepping on a pile of needles? No thanks ! Yet it is the painful sensation suffered by people who, inadvertently, set foot on a sea urchin…
All about sea urchins
The sea urchin – or echinoid or echinoid according to its scientific names – is a small invertebrate, rounded in shape, covered with prickles, and hard. And for good reason: it has the particularity of having an external skeleton! It belongs to the same family of marine animals as starfish and sea cucumbers: echinoderms. Also known as ‘sea hedgehog‘ or ‘sea chestnut‘ – in reference to its iodized taste – it is present almost everywhere on the French coasts and there are several species. Some are purple or black (especially in the Mediterranean), others are green (on the Atlantic coast, in particular). Some are edible and some are not. If its quills allow the sea urchin to protect itself, move around and dig a shelter under water, it can turn out to be dangerous for humans, who can injure themselves on contact with them. If, in France, the danger is limited in the event of a bad encounter, some species of sea urchins are poisonous and harmful to humans. They are found mainly in the Pacific, towards India, and their venom can prove fatal for humans in the event of bites.
The problem? Even if sea urchins seem easily recognizable to the naked eye, they tend to hide from view, hidden by rocks and algae…
During the summer season, the sea urchin does not necessarily hide and sometimes it happens to share its territory with swimmers who come to enjoy the sea. To avoid being stung and having a bad time, the best advice rest of watch where you put your feet, especially in rocky areas where sea urchins tend to cling. If you intend to explore these rocks, it is best to wear sandals or beach shoes neoprene or plastic.
The other good reflex is to always have a small first aid kit with disinfectant and tweezers. This can always be useful, especially if you find yourself confronted with a jellyfish. A moment of inattention quickly arrived…
The symptoms of a sea urchin sting ? A sharp, brief and intense pain…comparable to that felt if we walked on a multitude of pointed needles stretched towards our feet! After the painful shock, redness, swelling and even numbness may appear. Symptoms similar to those of many other bites, in short. The particularity to clearly distinguish it is played out during the observation of the injured area: the spines of the animal being very brittle, they will have left small fragments under the skin.
Sea urchin sting: what to do?
Although they are not venomous, the sea urchins that we come across in France contain bacteria and can present a risk of infection in the event of bites. To avoid any risk of complication, we proceed as follows:
- We start by cleaning the wound with soapy water or fresh water. But avoid sea water which can contain bacteria and increase the risk of infection.
- Disinfect the wound with a conventional disinfectant as quickly as possible to minimize the risk of complications.
- Using tweezers, gently remove the largest thorns. Trouble removing a thorn? You can soften the skin by taking a hot bath beforehand or using a fat body – like petroleum jelly – to make the thorns come out more easily. If it’s too difficult and/or the pain is too intense for us to be able to work well, we don’t hesitate to consult a health professional ! No need to panic if it is difficult to remove the micro fragments of thorn, once the infection has stopped, these small residues will be eliminated naturally, at the same time as the dead skin!
- Let heal the injury in the open.
If you’ve been bitten on a supervised beach, you don’t hesitate to seek help from the lifeguards at the first aid station, experienced in this kind of misadventure.
If the wound does not heal and becomes more and more painful, remains loose and swollen, or painful, the wisest course is to see a doctor.
Another solution to remove the remains of thorns? Use the White vinegar ! If the effectiveness of white vinegar to maintain the house is already known, it would also have the power to dissolve the needles of the sea urchin, composed mainly of limestone. We make compresses soaked in vinegar that we apply daily and this, over several days.
Should you urinate on a sea urchin sting?
Urban legend or genius trick? Rescuers at sea decided: “urinating on the bite is useless and creates a risk of infection”. Same disapproval of the virtues of sand to dislodge thorns: “you risk breaking the thorns left in the skin into even smaller fragments that are more difficult to remove”warn rescuers at sea.
Read also:
How to treat a jellyfish sting?
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