Florida Department of Health Warns Beachgoers About Outbreak of Sea Lice in the Water
By Julie Mazziotta –
Florida’s Department of Health is warning beachgoers about an outbreak of sea lice on the state’s northwest shores.
The beaches around Pensacola now have purple flags to alert swimmers about the underwater creatures, which leave itchy, irritated rashes with bumps and welts.
The sea lice are actually tiny jellyfish larvae and cells, Dave Greenwood, the director of public safety for Pensacola beaches, told the Pensacola News Journal.
“They aren’t very intense, which is why we call them sea lice and not sea hornets or sea wasps,” he said. “It’s just one of those you have to deal with when you go into the Gulf of México. You are a land animal and the Gulf is not our native environment.”
(For complete story see: https://people.com/health/florida-sea-lice-outbreak-beaches/)