Swimmers Encounter a Pesky Problem They Call the Sea Butterfly
There were some unexpected, rather unwelcome, visitors at the beach last weekend. Chatter on the What’s Going On St. Thomas Facebook page was replete with posts about a swarm of tiny sea creatures that left some swimmers at Magens Bay feeling like they had been stung.
2022-06-22 14:03:47 - VI News Staff
Apparently, they had met with a mass of “sea butterflies” – the common name for various types of tiny sea snails that are an important link in the ocean’s food chain. The critters are herbivorous and do not actually sting or bite, nor are they any serious threat to humans. But they do have light or transparent shells that can scrape against the skin and occasionally get trapped in clothing.
“At first, we thought they were tiny pieces of fiberglass,” Cynthia Moore posted. “That’s what they look and feel like. For the past two years, they have swarmed at this time of the year. We had no idea what they were called either. Very painful. They get stuck on your skin and in your bathing suit.”
If you’ve never heard of a sea butterfly, you aren’t alone. Several people posted that they had lived decades on St. Thomas and had never seen or heard of them.
But Hubert Brumant, general manager at Magens Bay, is quite familiar with them.
“Every year, we have them,” he said, especially at the southern end of the beach. They generally appear in the summer months. “They wash in on the big waves. They’re driven by the currents … There’s nothing we can do about them” – other than alert swimmers to their presence.
Because of their size – generally less than an inch – and their transparency, they are hard to spot in small numbers. Brumant said they often appear like strings. And they may go unnoticed.