Today I want to take a look at those strange-looking, gelatinous, floating blobs in the sea that often look like deflated balloons with long strings attached. In fact, this summer, beachgoers along the coast of Maine where I live, have observed some of these creatures as large as five feet in diameter, trailing tentacles as long as 100 feet.

These sea creatures are collectively known as JELLYFISH (which seems like a cute enough name) but those who are in-the-know AVOID them like the plague - because some varieties can use their tentacles to STING you with needle-sharp, mini-harpoons called nematocysts - capable of injecting a toxic venom – causing pain, often a lot of pain – that can affect your respiratory system which can be extremely dangerous – and in severe cases even cause paralysis and death in as little as 20 minutes.