Queensland lifesavers have been run ragged helping treat beachgoers in their thousands for bluebottle stings.
More than 2600 people required first aid on the Gold and Sunshine coasts as the jellyfish swarmed beaches in record numbers across the weekend.
Several swimmers suffered anaphylactic shock and were attended to by paramedics.
Almost a thousand people fell foul of marine stingers in a matter of hours on Sunday afternoon, with 476 treated on the Gold Coast and 461 on the Sunshine Coast.
Surf Life Saving duty officer Jeremy Sturges described the barrage as an "epidemic".
"I have never seen anything like this - ever," he said.
"Not everyone reacts the same way but there have been very serious reactions."
Unusually strong northeasterly swell conditions pushed the bluebottles onshore and they were clumped in their thousands along the shoreline.
Lifesavers were forced to close a number of beaches as a result.
