All The Creepy Creatures In Florida Waters That Can Hurt You

FLORIDA — From pythons and panthers to alligators and sharks, Florida has a range of critters to beware of when visiting the Sunshine State.

And gators and sharks aren't necessarily the worst danger lurking in Florida waters, according to the Florida Department of Health.

In its publication, "Florida's Marine Stings & Things," the health department said there are other creatures that are likely to ruin a day at the beach.

Portuguese Man O' War

Topping the list is the Portuguese man o' war, which resembles a jellyfish but is actually made up of a colony of organisms working together.

This pastel-colored benign-looking creature can deploy tentacles with stinger cells as far away as a football field is wide as they float along the surface of the water, about 160 feet. If you see one washed up on a beach, stay away. It can still sting out of water.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Research Institute, the Portuguese man o' war goes wherever the wind blows and the currents take it.

Its gas-filled float, a see-through blue, pink or violet bulb on the water's surface, and its thin trailing tentacles that can be up to 50 feet long can cause extreme pain and raise whip-like red streaks if it stings a person. Serious exposure can result in breathing difficulties,
shock and even death.

The waters surrounding Florida are also home to several species of jellyfish with stinging tentacles.These creatures range in size from tiny to several feet in diameter.

While most jellyfish do not sting, Florida has several species that swimmers should beware of including the upside-down jellyfish, the moon jellyfish and the sea nettle.

Contact with their tentacles (even those that have broken off) can cause red, raised streaky welts that can last from one to two weeks and cause severe pain, tingling, itching and even nausea and headaches, according to the DOH.

Sea Urchin

While fascinating to watch and beneficial to Florida's dying coral reefs, Florida residents and visitors also should steer clear of sea urchins. While most sea urchins are not toxic, several in Florida contain venom in their spines, including the long-spined urchin and the Black Sea urchin. While not life threatening, sea urchin
stings can be very painful and cause numbness and swelling that extend far from the wound. Additionally, sea urchin spines are very hard to get out and a doctor may need to prescribe antibiotics to prevent an infection.

Fire Coral

Beautiful and deceptively harmless, fire coral has finger-like branches or flat blades that are mustard colored, tan or brown and contain stinging cells. Contact with bare skin causes a burning pain and red rash within five to 30 minutes. These stinging cells stick to skin and must be removed by a doctor.

Scorpionfish

As its name implies, the scorpionfish is no friend of man. The scorpionfish is a splotchy red or brown fish that camouflages itself in coral or between rocks. It raises its thick dorsal spines in warning when threatened and these spines are powerful enough to pierce a wetsuit.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute discovered two species of this elusive fish in Florida waters — the hunchback scorpionfish and the shortfin scorpionfish, both of which release venomous toxin from their dorsal fins that cause “a lingering pain if they penetrate the skin."

Catfish

Catfish, named for their prominent barbels that resemble a cat's whiskers, are found in fresh oceans around the world. Southerners love to eat them fried or blackened.

However, experienced anglers know to take special care when catching and removing catfish from a fishing hook. Catfish have spines on their back and side fins that contain a venom. The spines are so sharp and strong, they can pierce the sole of a shoe. And their painful sting can cause swelling, numbness and sometimes reduce a person's heart rate and cause them to faint.

In June 2022, a catfish in a pond in New Port Richey stung a young boy, and the child had to be flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa with a life-threatening injury.

Pasco County firefighters said the barb of the catfish was stuck about 1 1/2 inches deep in the child's chest cavity, causing the child to stop breathing.

Lionfish

One of the scourges of the FWC, the lionfish is a non-native species that's taken over Florida waters, causing environmental damage so severe that the FWC now hosts an annual Lionfish Challenge, sponsored by Zookeeper, to rid Florida's waters of this invasive critter. This year's challenge runs from June 1 to Oct. 1.

During the challenge's eight-year history, the FWC said more than 165,000 lionfish have been removed from Florida waters.

Native to the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, lionfish can now be found year-round in Florida waters. Rarely caught on hook-and-line, the most effective methods of catching them are spearing or with a hand-held net.

While they can be striking to look at with their long, elegant, fan-like pectoral fins that resemble a lion's mane, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they've become a menace to other species of fish and are a threat to Florida's reef ecosystem because it is a top predator that competes for food and space with overfished native stocks such as snapper and grouper.

Scientists fear that lionfish will also kill off helpful species such as algae-eating parrotfish, allowing seaweed to overtake the reefs. A mature female lionfish can release roughly two million eggs a year, so the lionfish is capable of altering habitats by causing the extinction of native plants and animals. Researchers have discovered that a single adult lionfish living on a coral reef can reduce the number of native reef fish by 79 percent.

However, those planning to hunt lionfish should take care. A species of the Scorpaenidae family (scorpionfish) they have 18 long, venomous spines which protrude around their bodies, positioned on the back, underbelly and dorsal to provide all-round protection from predators. A sting from a lionfish fin or spine can cause localized pain, redness and swelling. More advanced cases can result in neurological problems such as headaches, nausea, numbness, dizziness and possible convulsions and paralysis.

Stingray

From April through October is stingray season in Florida. That's when visitors will see signs posted along Florida beaches instructing them on how to do the "Stingray Shuffle."

During this time of the year, stingrays migrate into shallow Gulf waters for their mating season and settle into the sand of shallow waters, partially covering themselves with sand, making them difficult to see.

See related:

• Gulf Coast Beach Goers Reminded To Practice Stingray Shuffle
• 6 Snakes To Know On Your Walks, Jogs And Hikes Around FL
• FL Leads The World In Shark Bites For 2022: University Of Florida
• Close Encounters During Gator Mating Season; Here's What To Do
• See Ya Later, Gator; Reptiles Found Wandering Throughout Pinellas

Instead of strolling through shallow waters, astute Floridians routinely shuffle their feet in the water, disturbing the sand and water ahead. Stingrays can't see well and rely on vibrations to let them know they are in danger so the shuffling will cause them to flee. However, if someone steps on one, this normally docile creature will defend itself with a stinger in its tail.

Women have described a stingray sting as more painful than childbirth. A stingray's tail is long, thin and tapered, like a whip. At the end of the tail are one or more barbed spines covered by a sheath. Each spine contains venom, and the stingray's tail can pack an incredibly painful sting that sends thousands of beach goers to the emergency room each year.

The stinger releases a complex venom, which leads to intense pain at the puncture site, especially if the barb breaks off in the foot. The venom can cause headaches, chills, nausea and vomiting, fainting, low blood pressure, arrhythmia of the heart, seizures and even death.

Bull Shark

The 1975 blockbuster movie, "Jaws," by Steven Spielberg transformed the great white shark into the villain of the seas. According to interviews with the late novelist of "Jaws," Peter Benchley, the book was based on a series of shark attacks along the New Jersey shore that killed four people and wounded five others from July 1 to 12, 1916.

George Burgess, a world-renowned shark expert who retired in 2018 as curator of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, researched the event, which attracted national media attention and become known as "The 12 Days of Terror."

He said the attacks began on the south Jersey shore and moved to the north in a pattern suggesting the attacker was a single shark. After attacking the first two victims, the shark swam north to Sandy Hook and made its way into Matawan Creek, where the attacks continued, leading experts to suspect the killer was a bull shark, a species that regularly swims into shallower brackish or fresh water.

However, Burgess said Matawan Creek isn't a typical creek.

“It’s a large tidal creek and, as it turns out, the attacks occurred on a high tide on a full moon, which meant the tide was as high as it could be and it (the water) had maximum salinity," he said.

Burgess concluded that the culprit had to be a great white shark due to the conditions of the creek, the severity of the injuries on those who died or were injured and the fact that a great white shark was later caught and human remains were found inside the shark.

Nevertheless, said Burgess, bull sharks pose more of a danger to swimmers in Florida waters because of their ability to linger in shallow coastal water and fresh water for long periods of time. Bull sharks usually don't swim in waters deeper than 94 feet.

That means bull sharks have more of an opportunity to encounter humans who tend to swim in shallow waters. And bull sharks aren't picky eaters. They'll eat just about anything that moves in the water — other marine mammals, turtles, birds and their own offspring.

Bull sharks live all along the East Coast but tend to migrate to Florida's warmer waters in the winter.

Tiger and great white sharks will also attack humans but their attacks are less common since they tend to swim and hunt in deeper waters, said Burgess.

According to Gavin Naylor, the current director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Florida Program for Shark Research, there were 57 unprovoked shark bites in 2022 and 32 provoked bites. Provoked bites include instances when divers are bitten after harassing, trying to spear, trying to unhook a shark from a fishing pole or trying to touch a shark.

The majority of shark attacks occur in the United States. There were 41 shark bites reported in the U.S. in 2022, one of which was fatal. Florida leads the country in the number of shark attacks with 16 bites reported last year, said Naylor.

Although not all victims of shark attacks can identify the type of shark that bit them, Naylor said bull sharks are considered the most dangerous to humans due to their aggressive behavior, their tendency to attack without provocation and the fact that they are more likely to encounter humans in shallow water.

Bull sharks tend to be smaller than the great white shark. Bull sharks average 8 to 11 feet long and weigh 290 to 500 pounds. Great white sharks average 11 to 16 feet long on average and weigh 1,500 to 2,400 pounds.

However, bull sharks have a much stronger bite force than great white sharks — 478 pounds of bite force versus 360 pounds for the great white, said Naylor.