An Australian teenager nearly lost his legs to predatory “sea lice” lurking in the shallow waters off Sydney, Australia.
Sam Kanizay says he dipped his feet in the water at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton to cool off after a football match.
About 30 minutes later he emerged from the water with blood gushing from his legs. The 16-year-old was transported to a hospital where he was treated for hundreds of bites by tiny marine creatures that are also known as “sea fleas”.
Sam’s father, Jarrod Kanizy, posted a Youtube.com video of the sea creatures making a meal of raw steak on a tray that he dipped in the water for 30 minutes.
But not everyone is convinced that the story holds water.
Alistair Poore, a University of New South Wales associate professor, says the sea creatures are not sea lice but more likely amphipods that usually feast on dead meat and rarely ever bite humans.
“You can attract a lot of animals in the sea with raw meat,” Dr. Poore said. “Even though it’s interesting, it doesn’t prove to me they were the ones that bit his legs.”
Another boy suffered a similar sea lice attack on a nearby beach in 2015, but Dr. Poore says sea lice are not common to Australia and live all over the world.
“It’s a fascinating story to show that the animals are out in urban areas, we don’t live totally separated from nature,” Dr. Poore said. “Just like there are mosquitoes and leeches on land that will bite humans, the same happens in the ocean.”
