UntitledWhen my wife accidentally touched a lionfish and got stung, I got her out of the sea and immediately immersed her hand in hot water, which we made as hot as she could bear by adding even hotter water to it.
The heat succeeded in breaking down the toxins. I recently saw someone use a hairdryer to the same effect. I was only surprised that the staff at the dive centre we were using had not known about this treatment.
The book Dangerous Marine Animals universally prohibits this form of remedy, but apart from a hand that looked as pink as a boiled lobster for a day, my wife escaped with no ill-effects.
Dangerous Marine Animals is the sort of volume that would make you want to give up diving, if it wasn't for the fact that you know more people lose their lives through the effects of being under water than any fish attack.
It's more than 370 pages long, and these pages are crammed with different species, listing their stings, burns, bites and poisonings. We might all be aware of the dangers of the inimicus devilfish or the stonefish, the blue-ring octopus and the box jellyfish, but I was somewhat surprised to see the Napoleon wrasse and the green turtle included in this veritable rogue's gallery of creatures intent on doing us harm.
So what did Norman Tebbit do when an over-zealous turtle bit him on the hand during a dive? He bled, of course. My neighbour's cat has teeth and claws, but it's my allergy to it that worries me more.
This book provides guidance as to what to do if the worst happens. Given that almost every living thing has the potential to hurt you in some way, it is actually quite a useful marine-creature identification aid for divers, with good pictures, biology and range, and it's something to keep non-diving auntie securely on the beach, reading her book.
If she asks you if you aren't worried about being attacked by a marauding hoard of sardines (they're evidently dangerous only if you eat them), tell her that they're vicious, but you can handle it!
Dangerous Marine Animals covers more than 350 different species from the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions, and has more than 640 colour photographs. It's a testament to the philosophy of "look but don't touch".
John Bantin
AC Black
ISBN 9781408119075
Softback, 370pp, £29.99
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