The skin lesions on the legs of the boy at Brighton beach yesterday would have been caused by swarms of small amphipods.
They are small marine crustaceans about 1cm or less that play an important part of cleaning up the decaying plants and animals on the sea bed. They come out at night and are attracted to lights.
The critters in the video are often called sand hoppers and were collected under seaweed on the beach. The boy from Brighton had wounds over his skin that are just like a bad graze injury. He was standing still in the cold water for quite a while.
DRI’s Jeff Weir had a similar thing happen in 1978 whilst on a night dive in the bay (HERE).
Find out about the Dolphin Research Institute’s Marine Education Programs HERE.
#caringforourbay #portphillip #marinetreasures
