Beach biters back in Bay

Pharmacist Mark Bedford has been doing research on the habits of the Mount Mauler. Photo / File

The notorious "Mount mauler" is bothering Bay of Plenty beachgoers again this summer.

Angela Freeman of Te Puke is the latest victim, her feet pinpricked a furious red after the mysterious creatures attacked her while she took a break from walking two pets near the Kaituna river mouth at Maketu.

"I went down to the beach with the dogs," she said yesterday. "We sat in the sand and I almost got eaten alive. They were tiny, tiny, tiny little things, and they were all over my feet."

Mrs Freeman, 50, treated her feet with bite cream and took an antihistamine.

The attackers exhibited the classic traits of Mount maulers, as they caused no pain while biting but left wounds that became itchy later.

The biting creatures were dubbed "Mount maulers" 12 years ago by staff at a Bay medical clinic. This replaced their earlier name, "little sand thingies". They have been variously identified as a microscopic jellyfish, called hydromedusae, and the larval stage of an insect called phycosecis limbata.

The latter identification was made by former Unichem Mount Dispensary pharmacist Mark Bedford, who studied them for more than a decade.

Mr Bedford had previously advised people to avoid lying flat in soft sand above the water mark from December until the end of January.

'Mount maulers' attacked Angela Freeman's feet as she was walking her dogs.

The mauler looks like a translucent maggot and moves rapidly over the body. The bites are not noticeable when they are occurring.

Unichem Mount Dispensary owner Daphne Earles said she had reports of bites in early December, but none in the past couple of weeks.

A worker at another centre said that a girl who visited two weeks ago was "bitten all over".

The worker had had a narrow escape herself during a recent visit to Papamoa. "I was down on the beach and they were all over my towel," she said.