Unknown Stinging/Biting Creature off of Southern California

[frogdog]

Hi there: I'd like to ask a question, and this was the only forum I could think to ask it. I'm wondering if anyone could identify a creature that stung or bit my son while surfing. No pictures and he didn't see it.

He was swimming off the coast of Southern California in water about 5' deep. He stood up, walked a few steps, and was either stung or bitten on the side of the heel of his foot. He says the pain was excruciating. He half swam/half hobbled out of the water and collapsed on the beach. He says it was bleeding heavily from a small round lesion. Some locals helped him into someone's house where they soaked his foot in hot water and plied him with liquor (glad I wasn't there).

He says his foot hurt badly for about 3 days. I saw him 2 months later, and it was still sore, and there was a small black spot at the place of injury.

Does anyone have any idea what could have done that? Was it a sting? A bite?

Thanks

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

Stingray?
Some sort of toadfish?
Did he feel anything swim away?
Maybe he hit some coral and some broke off inside without knowing it, and causing an infection?
How big is the wound?

 

[diablo30xp]

scorpion fish also known as sculpin maybe also sting ray could be as well...

 

[frogdog]

No he didn't notice anything swim away, but he said he was so overcome with pain that he just wanted to get out of the water before he drowned. As he got into shallower water he saw that he was bleeding....a lot. No, he didn't get an infection. Something happened in a split second, then he spent the next month recovering. The wound was round.
Thanks for your help

 

[WarmWaterWuss]

It could even be a spiny sea urchin, who knows. But if it has lasted this long he should probably have a doc look at it. You might call DAN (Divers Alert Network) for more info too.

 

[billsreef]

With the small black spot, I"d tend to go with likelihood that he stepped on an urchin. Even a puncture from a non venomous urchin will hurt a lot and often cause localized infections such as you describe.

 

[MMERITT28]

How big was the round lesion? It sounds like the same thing that happeded to my brother in Mexico. It was a stingray that got him. Apparently he stepped on it in about two to three feet of water and did not make it out before he collapsed.

 

[frogdog]

I only saw the injury 2 months later, and by that time it was just a black spot about the size of a pencil eraser. After receiving some ideas on this forum what creature it could have been (thanks everyone), I looked up all of these things, and I'm willing to bet it was a ray. I think it was a ray because there wasn't anything left in the injured spot, it bled profusely initially, was excruciatingly painful, responded to hot water "therapy", and healed pretty much without incident (slowly). Also because the injury was the side of the foot near the ankle, which is probably the most common site for ray injuries.

This is some of the literature I read, with the first one being the best. I just want to add that my kid isn't a sissy, he went to univ. on a rugby scholarship, but says it was the most painful thing he ever experienced or could even imagine experiencing.

All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't on this surfing trip down the Pacific coast and only heard about this 2 months later. This is the kind of adventure that gives moms grey hair!

http://www.lsms.org/Pubs/Journal/Journal_JulAug_2007_Stingray_CME.pdf
http://www.potamotrygon.de/fremdes/stingray article.htm
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/wilderness_stingray_sting/article_em.htm

 

[husonfirst]

He didn't go to the hospital after it happened?

 

[frogdog]

Of course not. For excruciating pain in the leg? For swelling and numbness? For excessive bleeding?

It was a 3 month surfing trip down the Pacific coast from northern California to Guatemala in 1970 VW bus for 2, 22-year old wild and *crazy* guys. He told me he did go to a doctor in some small town in Mexico for a bad ear infection about a month later (and thought he got really good care).

After I heard this ray story I told him I only wanted to hear the "happy" stories. I would have recommended going to emergency if I had been there.

 

[MMERITT28]

Tell him to be careful and to keep an eye on it. My brother is no wussie either and he still had issues in his leg for several years after. I hope all stays well.