# Sea urchins, jellyfish, and urine

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 23, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384 "2003-01-23T05:00:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384/1 "2003-01-23T05:00:34Z")

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Ok, I grew up in Hawai’i and now live on the California coast and am wondering whether this beach-goers’ home remedy has something to it or is baloney (in Hawai’i surfers that stepped on urchins would pee on their own afflicted foot). Someone mentioned (BBQ pit tangent) that urine might make jellyfish/ man-of-war stings worse. What about sea urchin quills? Will urine actually dissolve quills? I suppose it can’t be the salinity, obviously. . . would the uric acid have enough strength? Anecdotal (first hand) evidence accepted.

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**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384/2 "2003-01-23T05:30:45Z")

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Urine huh? I suspect it’s an acid thing – acid (uric acid in this case) neutralizing an alkaloid poison, rather than dissolving the quills.

Anybody who’s ever surfed Australia knows the locals bring a bottle of white vinegar with them to counteract the sting of bluebottle and box jellyfish. Same principal I suspect.

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**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384/3 "2003-01-23T15:25:58Z")

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Hmm. Do urchin quills have toxin?  
Morning bump.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sea-urchins-jellyfish-and-urine/150384/4 "2003-01-23T15:50:28Z")

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Hmmm…I used to think that urinating on jellyfish stings would cause the stingers to not fire (those that hadn’t fired yet). Apparently this is not so (white vinegar will do this for _some_ jellyfish stings and make others worse as mentioned in the article linked to below).

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Does urinating on jellyfish stings help? \*\*
> 
> No. At best, this common folk remedy does nothing. At worst, it can fire undischarged stinging cells and make the sting worse.
> 
> When my doctor heard about our jellyfish study he said, “Great. I hope you tell people to stop urinating on every cut and sting they get in the ocean.”
> 
> So I will. Don’t do it.
> 
> SOURCE: [Ocean Watch](http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch1999/mar22-99.html)