BARNES, Dr Jack

Dr. Jack Barnes was a Cairns General Practitioner who then took over the quest (from Dr Hugo Flecker) for the "Irukandji". He surmised that the organism had to be a very small jellyfish that swam very quickly, and probably close to the surface. After calculating the most likely time and place to catch the animal Barnes lay on the bottom of the seabed in shallow water wearing his SCUBA gear. Many hours later his persistence was rewarded when he saw a very small jellyfish swim in front of his mask. He managed to catch this, and another when he saw a fish moving in an erratic fashion which was seen to be caught in the tentacles of another of these tiny jellyfish. To see if they caused the "Irukandji syndrome" Barnes stung himself, his son Nick, and a lifesaver friend. After the characteristic 30-minute delay all three developed the "Irukandji syndrome" and had to be admitted to hospital with severe back pain, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting and headache (Barnes 1964). These jellyfish specimens were also sent to Dr Ron Southcott and in 1966 he described them as a new genus and species of box jellyfish called Carukia barnesi. The `car' from Carybdea, the type of single-tentacled box-jellyfish in whose Family it belonged, and the `ruk' from "Irukandji"; `barnesi' named after its discoverer (Southcott 1967). Barnes - as the Medical Adviser to the Surf Life Saving Association introduced `pantihose' as an effective protective barrier preventing a serious Chironex sting. It was thick enough to prevent penetration and consequent envenomation by the thread tubes of the stinging cells of Chironex. It became a common site in north Queensland to see Surf lifesavers wearing pantihose on patrol. One pair was worn as usual on the lower half of the body with the feet cut out and taped around the ankles, the other pair had a small hole cut in the crutch and they were pulled over the head with the arms put in the leg part, and the hands free. They were able to safely enter the water to drag long mesh nets through the shallows to see if Chironex were present, allow safer bathing for the general public. The idea was not to rid the area of dangerous jellyfish, but to detect their presence so the beach could be closed to prevent envenomation. Dr Jack Handyside Barnes (1922–1985) was one of the small and elite group of Pacific marine toxinologists whose work was characterised by an uncompromising rugged persona, a focussed resolve to solve challenging problems of human clinical envenomation, and who conducted curiosity-driven research under conditions of scientific isolation. He was a pioneering advocate for the preservation of marine heritage, particularly that of the Great Barrier Reef. A former military commando who later became a general medical practitioner with extensive surgical and obstetric skills, in 1947 he was appointed the Medical Superintendent of Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. Later (from January 1953), he worked indefatigably as a general medical practitioner in Cairns, in tropical North Australia. For four decades (1945–1985), JackBarnes undertook detailed laboratory, clinical and field research into invertebrate envenomation, particularly medusan toxinology. In 1960 he discovered the species responsible for the Irukandji syndrome, a small carybdeid named Carukia barnesi in his honour. He invented the research technique for the extraction of venom from the world's most venomous creature, the Pacific box Jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri. By 1960, he had published taxonomic details of nematocyst structure and clinical envenomation details consequent upon stings by Physalia, Cyanea, Chironex, Chiropsalmus and Carukia. See also: FLECKER Dr Hugo Reference/s: http://www.marine-medic.com.au/pages/medical/irukandji.asp Downloaded 18 May 2012 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041010106002509 Downloaded 18 May 2012