Tourists are being warned to be careful when they explore beaches on holiday after a woman picked up a shell that contained a highly venomous creature.
Heading to the beach is a key part of many summer holidays, whether you soak up the sun on one of the many beaches in the UK or travel to another country to enjoy their coastal delights.
When relaxing on a beach or exploring the coast, finding gorgeous artefacts washed ashore by the waves is not uncommon. Pebbles with beautiful patterns, interesting shells, and even sea glass are among the things people often pick up and take home as little souvenirs of their travels.
However, one woman has urged people to be more careful with the items they pick up after she had a close call with a shell she picked up while exploring a beach in Okinawa, Japan.
Becky Lee is from the US but now lives in Japan, and had no idea what could have happened to her when she picked up a beautiful shell belonging to a marbled cone snail.
Becky already has several of these shells in her collection at home, so she thought nothing of it when she found one on the beach. However, the shell she picked up still had the living sea snail inside it – and they are highly venomous.
In a TikTok video, she said: “I came across this shell and as you can see, this is one of my favourite shells to collect because the pattern is so stunning. So I pick up the shell, and that’s when I notice it’s alive.
“The black and white tube you see is the snail’s siphon, but this is also the end of the snail that shoots out to sting and inject its victims with venom that can lead to full paralysis or even fatality.”
There are over 700 species of cone snail, and while all of them are venomous, they don’t all pose a danger to humans. However, some species are reportedly so deadly that they can kill a human in under five minutes, earning the nickname “cigarette snail”, as you only have time to smoke a cigarette before dying.
Becky added: “When a cone snail stings you, it can feel like a fire burning at the site, or it can feel like nothing. I spent the next 72 hours in pure paranoia, not knowing if I was stung.”
Thankfully, the woman was not stung by the snail. She put the shell back where she found it and did not take it home with her to add to her collection.
While exercising caution in the ocean is always advised, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History claims that the marbled cone snail would not have actually killed Becky if she had been stung.
They state that only two species, Conus textile and Conus geographus, are known to have killed humans, and the total death toll from these stings is less than 100.
The sting of smaller cone species may be no worse than a bee or hornet sting, but there are some more dangerous species, including the marbled cone snail, which can cause nasty symptoms such as swelling, numbness, and vomiting.
Severe cases can involve muscle paralysis, changes in vision, and respiratory failure that can lead to death. If you have been stung by any species of cone snail, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Cone snails are not native to UK waters. They typically inhabit tropical and sub-tropical waters, meaning you’ll likely find them around Australia, the Indian ocean, the Pacific ocean, Hawaii, and warmer parts of the mainland US, such as Florida and California.
So think twice before you pick up a shell just because it looks pretty!