A young man who went into the sea to wash his legs, has ended up regretting the act after something terrible happened.
An Australian teenager Sam Kanizay went to cool his feet in the ocean on Saturday after a game of football – but when he emerged from the water he was covered in blood.
According to Daily Star UK, the 16-year-old dipped his legs in the cold waves at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton, Australia – also known as Brighton beach – and said he felt a tingling sensation but put it down to the cold.
When he walked back up the beach his legs were streaming with blood and he soon realised his legs were covered in tiny wounds.
The pinprick-sized holes continued to bleed so profusely that his dad rushed him to hospital where doctors were puzzled about what had caused the wounds.
People were told to avoid swimming at the Melbourne-based beach after the incident.
“I wasn’t really thinking about being eaten,” Sam said after he was hospitalised.
Sam’s father Jarrod gathered specimens from the water where his son was attacked and these were examined by Museums Victoria marine scientist Dr Genefor​ Walker-Smith.
The experts later confirmed that tiny flesh-eating creatures were behind the attack.
She determined the culprits were the “Port Phillip Bay sea flea” which measure up to just 1cm long.
These fleas are carnivores who will feed on human flesh, yet Dr Walker-Smith said there is no cause for alarm.
She added: “I think this is quite a rare thing.
“I really just think [Sam] was in the wrong place at the wrong time, probably.”
The fleas are part of a group of crustaceans and the scientist said she wasn’t surprised that the bites wouldn’t stop bleeding as she suspected the amphipod “has an anti-coagulant that it released like leeches do, so it stops the blood from clotting”.
She continued: “It probably did make 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 [the ocean floor].”
These fleas can be found all over the world, they are attracted to both warm and cold water but tend to feed mostly at night.
