Here’s the thing most people don’t know: a jellyfish doesn’t need to be alive to sting you. According to Poison Control, even dead jellyfish can deliver a nasty sting that causes pain and a rash wherever it makes contact with your skin.
The reason comes down to how jellyfish stings actually work. The Mayo Clinic explains that stings come from hundreds of tiny structures called nematocysts that latch onto your skin from the tentacles. Once attached, they can continue pumping toxin into you — and the jellyfish being dead doesn’t switch that off.
So that blob washed up near your towel? Don’t poke it. Don’t kick it. Don’t let a little kid pick it up. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources puts it plainly — washed-up jellyfish may be dead but can still be capable of inflicting stings.
Detached tentacles floating in the water after a storm can sting you too. You don’t even need the jellyfish itself. Just give any jellyfish — dead or alive, whole or in pieces — a wide berth and you’re good.