There are many creatures, big and small, to be feared in Australia but strolling on a suburban beach in a few feet of water should have been safe enough.
Yet when Sam Kanizay, 16, decided to paddle in the sea near his home in Melbourne his legs became covered in blood and both he and hospital staff struggled to stem the bleeding.
Tiny sea creatures that he could not feel had attacked his flesh, leaving him standing in a pool of blood.
Doctors were left puzzled by the “pin-sized holes” in his legs and feet through which the blood seeped out, many of which required stitches.
“I didn’t feel anything untoward when I was in the water,” he said: “It was cold, so I expected my legs to go numb.”
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However, by Monday night scientists believed they had identified his attackers – tiny half to one-centimetre long carnivores, known as sea fleas, found in many in-shore waters.
“Blood covered both of my feet and I was leaving little pools [of blood] everywhere. I thought I had maybe stood on a rock, but the amount of blood quickly told me that wasn’t it,” Mr Kanizay said.
Dr Genefor Walker-Smith, a marine scientist, told The Age newspaper that the number of bites Mr Kanizay suffered was highly unusual and it appeared that he had been attacked by a swarm of sea fleas.
She said it was possible he had disturbed a dead fish they were feeding on.
“I think this is quite a rare thing. I really just think Sam was in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably.”
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She said the difficulty that hospital staff had when trying to stem his bleeding might be explained because the sea fleas had an anti-coagulant that they released – as leeches do – to prevent blood from clotting.
“It probably made it worse that Sam was standing still; they may not have been able to cling on too tightly if he had been moving through the water. They’re used to eating dead things still on the bottom [of the sea floor],” said Dr Walker-Smith.
The Department of Environment, Land and Water in Victoria state was, however, taking no chances and warned people to don a wetsuit with boots before swimming in Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.