Safe Sea

Safe Sea is a sunscreen brand built around an unusual dual claim: protection from ultraviolet radiation and from jellyfish stings in a single lotion. It was developed by the Israeli marine biologist Dr. Amit Lotan and is produced by Nidaria Technology Ltd, a company based in the Jordan Valley, Israel [6]. The line is marketed with the tagline "the only sunscreen that protects from the sun and from jellyfish stings," and today reaches European markets partly through a Greek operation trading at safesea.gr and based in Perama, near Athens.

The brand remains active, though its public footprint is modest. Its Greek site maintains social accounts on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and the underlying Nidaria formula holds a Friend of the Sea marine-safety certification listed as active through August 2028 [9]. The most recent dated content on the Greek blog is from November 2023 and consists of placeholder text, suggesting the site was rebuilt around that time rather than regularly updated.

The product traces to Dr. Amit Lotan's research on jellyfish at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. According to the company, while studying the toxin-injection systems inside jellyfish he observed that clownfish avoid being stung by the anemones they live among, protected by a mucous coating that keeps the anemone's stinging cells from firing. Safe Sea describes how Lotan isolated the protective chemical involved and "included this substance in a sunscreen emulsion," producing the first Safe Sea cream.

Nidaria Technology Ltd was established to commercialise this idea. The company's own milestones page dates its founding to 1995 [8]; a separate web summary gives 2001, but that year corresponds to the product's launch in Japan rather than the founding of the company. The 1995 date is the one recorded by the manufacturer and its clinical documentation.

Nidaria filed a patent application in 1997 for what it describes as the world's first lotion offering dual protection from solar radiation and jellyfish stings [8]. A first dual-protection product followed in 1998, and after clinical testing a Mediterranean medical centre approved the formula in 1999. Safe Sea launched commercially in the United States and Israel in 2000, and in Japan in 2001, after which the range was extended to cover sun protection factors from SPF 15 to 50+ [8]. The company reports that its products were subsequently distributed across markets including Spain, France and several countries in Asia.

Safe Sea is sold chiefly as a body sunscreen. Its current Greek range centres on an SPF 50+ formula, an SPF 50+ children's version, and an SPF 40 spray. The sunscreen uses physical (mineral) filters such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which the company says sit on the skin rather than being absorbed, alongside octinoxate; the anti-sting element is attributed to biomass glycosaminoglycans and glycoprotein, with added vitamins B and E in a preservative-free formula.

According to Nidaria, the jellyfish-protection mechanism works in several ways at once: a slippery surface that stops tentacles gripping the skin, and compounds that interfere with the chemical signals a jellyfish uses to recognise prey and trigger its stinging cells [6]. The company states the product has been tested against a range of species, including sea nettles, box jellyfish, bluebottles and lion's mane jellyfish.

The dual-protection claim has been examined in published research. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled field trial by David R. Boulware, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in 2006, tested the product at sites in Florida and Belize. Across 82 water exposures, eleven stings occurred with a placebo against two with the Safe Sea formula, a relative risk reduction of 82 percent, and the authors concluded it was effective at preventing more than 80 percent of stings under real-world conditions [6]. A separate study at Stanford University by the dermatologist Dr. Alexa Kimball tested volunteers who applied the product to one arm before immersing both in a tank of stinging creatures; Kimball told Medical Daily in 2014 that the treatment "didn't completely inhibit the stings, but it came pretty darn close" [7]. Nidaria says it has also worked with organisations including the U.S. Navy and Israel's Ministry of the Environment in testing its products [8].

The brand positions the sunscreen as reef- and marine-friendly. Friend of the Sea, which certifies the formula, records that the Safe Sea line "release[s] less than 5% chemical to the water" and describes it as biodegradable and safe for marine life [9]. The company presents the product as compatible with the wider move toward reef-safe sunscreens.

Safe Sea is an active brand. Its Israeli originator, Nidaria Technology Ltd, holds a current marine-safety certification, and the Greek operation maintains an online store and active social media accounts. Visible activity is limited, however: the brand's most recent dated web content is placeholder material from late 2023, and no new milestones or awards have been recorded since.