Council opts not to close Melbourne beach where boy attacked by mystery sea creatures
WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: A Melbourne council has said it will not be closing the beach where a teenage boy was attacked by aggressive "sea lice" and left with blood pouring from his legs.
Sam Kanizay, 16, went for a 30-minute dip at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton on Saturday evening and walked out with his legs covered in blood with tiny marine creatures eating him.
On Monday, Bayside City Council confirmed to 7 News Online the beach would remain open for swimmers, saying the incident is "unusual."
Sam Kanizay has suffered mystery injuries after dipping his feet into sea water. Photos: AAP
"Council believes that the incident is unusual and there is no immediate need to close the beach," Bayside Council Director of Environment, Recreation and Infrastructure Steven White said.
"Council has sought information from Parks Victoria and The Department of ELWP and is awaiting further advice."
This comes after Sam's father, Jarrod Kanizay, shared shocking footage of the creatures he believed attacked his son devouring chunks of raw meat.
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On Sunday, a curious Mr Kanizay returned to the beach to catch a sample of the "sea lice", after the attack baffled the medical team that treated his son.
He placed a net full of raw meat in the water and footage shows hundreds of the creatures swarming around the food.
"No one knows what the creatures are. They've called a number of people, whether it's toxicity experts or marine exerts and other medics around Melbourne at least... [and] yep, no one [knows]," he said.
Mr Kanizay, said the creatures "ate through Sam's skin" and left him bleeding profusely.
After realising they could not stop the bleeding, the teenager was rushed to hospital where staff were baffled by the "pin-sized holes" all over his legs.
Mr White suggested a number of precautions for swimmers to avoid being bitten by the creatures.
On Monday, Bayside City Council confirmed to 7 News Online the beach would remain open for swimmers. Photo: Getty
"In the event that the incident was caused by sea lice, a number of precautions can be taken to avoid being bitten by these naturally occuring marine animals," he said.
He said the lice are most active at night and swimmers should stick to going in the water during daylight hours.
"Further precautions include covering bare skin, wearing wetsuits and booties and remaining active whilst in the water."
Mr Kanizay went back down to the beach to catch a sample of the creatures he believes attacked his son. Photo: Sunrise
Mr Kanizay couldn't stop his son's legs bleeding and they went to hospital. Photo: 7 News/ AAP
Marine expert Michael Brown was baffled by the strange creatures and told Sunrise he believed they might be "jellyfish larvae."
"I've been doing this for coming on 20 years now and I've never seen anything like this," he said.
University of Melbourne marine biologist Professor Michael Keough said sea lice were a possibility, as "they're scavengers who'll clean up dead fish," The Age reported.
"They're mostly less than a centimetre long, and so the bites they make are pretty small, and so that's more consistent with pinprick size marks," he said.
"[They will] just be attracted to a little bit of blood. And if he's standing in the water and he's cold [he] may not notice a whole lot of little bites."-
The teenager's father said hospital staff have no idea what the tiny sea creatures are. Photo: 7 News
Hospital staff were at a loss as to what had happened to the teenager. Photo: 7 News
