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Box jellyfish (class Cubozoa) are
cnidaria Cnidaria ( ) is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic invertebrates found both in fresh water, freshwater and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroid (zoology), hydroids, ...
n
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s distinguished by their box-like (i.e.,
cube A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
-shaped) body. Some species of box
jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...
produce potent
venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...
delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including '' Chironex fleckeri'', '' Carukia barnesi'', '' Malo kingi'', and a few others, are extremely painful and often fatal to humans.


Taxonomy and systematics

Historically, cubozoans were classified as an order of
Scyphozoa The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish (or "true jellies"). The class name Scyphozoa comes from the Greek word '' skyphos'' (), denoting a kind of drinking cup and alluding to the ...
until 1973, when they were put in their own class due to their unique biological cycle (lack of strobilation) and morphology. At least 51 species of box jellyfish were known as of 2018. These are grouped into two
orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...
and eight
families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
. A few new species have since been described, and it is likely that additional
undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...
remain. Cubozoa represents the smallest
cnidaria Cnidaria ( ) is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic invertebrates found both in fresh water, freshwater and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroid (zoology), hydroids, ...
n class with approximately 50 species. Class Cubzoa * Order Carybdeida ** Family
Alatinidae Alatinidae is a family of box jellyfish within class Cubozoa, containing the following genera and species: * '' Alatina'' ** ''Alatina alata'' (Reunaud, 1830) ** '' Alatina grandis'' (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902) ** '' Alatina madraspatana'' (Menon, ...
** Family Carukiidae ** Family Carybdeidae ** Family Tamoyidae ** Family Tripedaliidae * Order Chirodropida ** Family Chirodropidae ** Family Chiropsalmidae ** Family Chiropsellidae


Description

The medusa form of a box jellyfish has a squarish, box-like bell, from which its name is derived. From each of the four lower corners of this hangs a short pedalium or stalk which bears one or more long, slender, hollow
tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s. The rim of the bell is folded inwards to form a shelf known as a velarium which restricts the bell's aperture and creates a powerful jet when the bell pulsates. As a result, box jellyfish can move more rapidly than other jellyfish; speeds of up to 1.5 metres per second have been recorded. In the center of the underside of the bell is a mobile appendage called the manubrium which somewhat resembles an elephant's trunk. At its tip is the mouth. The interior of the bell is known as the
gastrovascular cavity The gastrovascular cavity is the primary organ of digestion and circulation in two major animal phyla: the Coelenterates or cnidarians (including jellyfish and corals) and Platyhelminthes (flatworms). The cavity may be extensively branched into ...
. It is divided by four equidistant septa into a central stomach and four gastric pockets. The eight
gonad A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a Heterocrine gland, mixed gland and sex organ that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gon ...
s are located in pairs on either side of the four septa. The margins of the septa bear bundles of small gastric filaments which house
nematocyst A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast) is a type of cell containing a large secretory organelle called a ''cnidocyst'', that can deliver a sting to other organisms as a way to capture prey and defend against predators. A cnidocyte explosively ...
s and digestive glands and help to subdue
prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...
. Each septum is extended into a septal funnel that opens onto the oral surface and facilitates the flow of fluid into and out of the animal. The box jellyfish's nervous system is more developed than that of many other jellyfish. They possess a ring nerve at the base of the bell that coordinates their pulsing movements, a feature found elsewhere only in the crown jellyfish. Whereas some other jellyfish have simple pigment-cup
ocelli A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...
, box jellyfish are unique in the possession of true eyes, complete with
retina The retina (; or retinas) is the innermost, photosensitivity, light-sensitive layer of tissue (biology), tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some Mollusca, molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focus (optics), focused two-dimensional ...
s,
cornea The cornea is the transparency (optics), transparent front part of the eyeball which covers the Iris (anatomy), iris, pupil, and Anterior chamber of eyeball, anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and Lens (anatomy), lens, the cornea ...
s and
lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
. Their eyes are set in clusters at the ends of sensory structures called rhopalia which are connected to their ring nerve. Each rhopalium contains two image-forming lens eyes. The upper lens eye looks straight up out of the water with a field of view that matches Snell's window. In species such as '' Tripedalia cystophora'', the upper lens eye is used to navigate to their preferred habitats at the edges of mangrove lagoons by observing the direction of the tree canopy. The lower lens eye is primarily used for object avoidance. Research has shown that the minimum visual angle for obstacles avoided by their lower lens eyes matches the half-widths of their receptive fields. Each rhopalium also has two pit eyes on either side of the upper lens eye which likely act as mere light meters, and two slit eyes on either side of the lower lens eye which are likely used to detect vertical movement. In total, the box jellyfish have six eyes on each of their four rhopalia, creating a total of 24 eyes. The rhopalia also feature a heavy crystal-like structure called a statolith, which, due to the flexibility of the rhopalia, keep the eyes oriented vertically regardless of the orientation of the bell. Box jellyfish also display complex, probably visually-guided behaviors such as obstacle avoidance and fast directional swimming. Research indicates that, owing to the number of rhopalial nerve cells and their overall arrangement, visual processing and integration at least partly happen within the rhopalia of box jellyfish. The complex nervous system supports a relatively advanced sensory system compared to other jellyfish, and box jellyfish have been described as having an active, fish-like behavior. Depending on species, a fully grown box jellyfish can measure up to along each box side ( in diameter), and the tentacles can grow up to in length. Its weight can reach . However, the
thumbnail Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of pictures or videos, used to help in recognizing and organizing them, serving the same role for images as a normal text index does for words. In the age of digital images, visual search engines and image-o ...
-sized Irukandji is a box jellyfish, and lethal despite its small size. There are about 15 tentacles on each corner. Each tentacle has about 500,000
cnidocyte A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast) is a type of cell containing a large secretory organelle called a ''cnidocyst'', that can deliver a sting to other organisms as a way to capture prey and defend against predators. A cnidocyte explosively ...
s, containing
nematocyst A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast) is a type of cell containing a large secretory organelle called a ''cnidocyst'', that can deliver a sting to other organisms as a way to capture prey and defend against predators. A cnidocyte explosively ...
s, a harpoon-shaped microscopic mechanism that injects venom into the victim. Many different kinds of nematocysts are found in cubozoans.


Distribution

Although the notoriously dangerous species of box jellyfish are largely restricted to the tropical
Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...
region, various species of box jellyfish can be found widely in tropical and subtropical oceans (between 42° N and 42 °S), including the Atlantic Ocean and the east Pacific Ocean, with species as far north as
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
('' Carybdea confusa''), the Mediterranean Sea ('' Carybdea marsupialis'') and Japan (such as ''
Chironex yamaguchii ''Chironex yamaguchii'', commonly known as ハブクラゲ (transliterated as habu-kurage, literally meaning "Viper Jellyfish" in Japanese) and as "hub jellyfish" due to erroneous machine translations, is a species of box jellyfish found in coas ...
''), and as far south as South Africa (such as '' Carybdea branchi'') and New Zealand (such as '' Copula sivickisi''). Though box jellies are known to inhabit the Indo-Pacific region, there is very little collected data or studies proving this. It was only in 2014, that the first ever box jelly sightings (Tripedalia cystophora) were officially published in Australia, Thailand and the Indian Ocean. There are three known species in Hawaiian waters, all from the genus '' Carybdea'': '' C. alata'', '' C. rastoni'', and '' C. sivickisi''. Within these tropical and subtropical environments, box jellyfish tend to reside closer to shore. They have been spotted in near-shore habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs, kelp forests, and sandy beaches. Recently, in 2023, a new genus and species of box jellyfish was discovered in the Indo-Pacific region, specifically the Gulf of Thailand. Discovered and named after scientist Lisa-ann Gershwin, this new species of box jellyfish, ''Gershwinia thailandensis'', is a member of the Carukiidae family. ''Gershwinia thailandensis'' is described as its own new species as it has sensory structures with specialized horns and lacks a common digestive system among box jelly, the stomach gastric phaecellae. Due to this and other observations, structural and biological, ''Gershwinia thailandensis'' was accepted as a new species of box jellyfish.


Detection

Cubozoans are widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions, yet the detection of these organisms can be quite difficult and costly due to a high amount of variation in their occurrence and abundance, their translucent body, two different life stages (medusa and polyp), and vast amounts of size variability within the different species in the class Cubozoa. Understanding the ecological distribution of cubozoans can be difficult work, and some of the costly methods like visual observations, a variety of different nets, light attraction techniques, and most recently the use of drones have had some levels of success in locating and tracking different species of cubozoa, but are limited by both anthropogenic and environmental factors. A new form of detection,
environmental DNA Environmental DNA or eDNA is DNA that is collected from a variety of environmental samples such as soil, seawater, snow or air, rather than directly sampled from an individual organism. As various organisms interact with the environment, DNA ...
(eDNA), has been developed and employed to help aid in the analysis of the populations of box jellyfish which can be implemented to mitigate the effects that box jellyfish have on coastal anthropogenic activities. This relatively easy and cost-effective method utilizes extra-organismal genetic material that can be found in the water column via shedding throughout the lifespan of an organism. This process for identifying box jellyfish using the eDNA technique involves collecting a water sample and filtering the sample through a cellulose nitrate membrane filter to extract any genetic material from the water sample. Once the DNA is extracted, it is analyzed for species-specific matches to see if the eDNA sequences sampled correlate with existing DNA sequences for box jellyfish. Given the results, the presence or absence of the box jellyfish can be indicated through the matching of genetic material. If a match is found, then the box jellyfish was present in the area. The utilization of eDNA can provide a cost-effective and efficient way to monitor populations of box jellyfish in both medusa and polyp life stages, to then use the data to help understand more about their ecology and limit the effects on coastal anthropogenic activities.


Ecology


Age and growth

It has been found that the statoliths, which are composed of calcium sulfate hemihydrate, exhibit clear sequential incremental layers, thought to be laid down on a daily basis. This has enabled researchers to estimate growth rates, ages, and age to maturity. '' Chironex fleckeri'', for example, increases its inter-pedalia distance (IPD) by per day, reaching an IPD of when 45 to 50 days old. The maximum age of any individual examined was 88 days by which time it had grown to an IPD of . In the wild, the box jellyfish will live up to 3 months, but can survive up to seven or eight months in a science lab tank.


Behavior

The box jellyfish actively hunts its prey (small fish), rather than drifting as do true jellyfish. They are strong swimmers, capable of achieving speeds of up to 1.5 to 2 metres per second or about . and rapidly turning up to 180° in a few bell contractions. Some species are capable of avoiding obstacles. The majority of box jellyfishes feed by extending their tentacles and accelerating for a short time upwards, then turn upside-down and stop pulsating. Then the jellyfish slowly sinks, until prey finds itself entangled by tentacles. At this point the pedalia fold and bring the prey to the oral opening. The venom of cubozoans is distinct from that of scyphozoans, and is used to catch prey (small fish and invertebrates, including
prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...
s and bait fish) and for defence from predators, which include the butterfish, batfish,
rabbitfish Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus ''Siganus'', are perciform fishes in the family (biology), family Siganidae. It is the only Extant taxon, extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having ...
,
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
s (
blue swimmer crab ''Portunus pelagicus'', also known as the blue crab, blue swimmer crab, blue manna crab and flower crab is a species of large crab found in the Indo-Pacific, including off the coasts Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and V ...
) and various species of
turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...
including the
hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largel ...
and
flatback sea turtle The Australian flatback sea turtle (''Natator depressus'') is a species of sea turtle in the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The species is Endemism, endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental sh ...
. It seems that sea turtles are unaffected by the stings because they seem to relish box jellyfish.


Reproduction

Cubozoans usually have an annual life cycle. Box jellyfish reach sexual maturity when their bell diameter reaches 5 millimeters. Chirodropida reproduces by external fertilization. Carybdeida instead reproduces by
internal fertilization Internal fertilization is the union of an egg and sperm cell during sexual reproduction inside the female body. Internal fertilization, unlike its counterpart, external fertilization, brings more control to the female with reproduction. For inte ...
and is
ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparity, oviparous and live-bearing viviparity, viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develo ...
; sperm is transferred by spermatozeugmata, a type of
spermatophore A spermatophore, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (''spérma''), meaning "seed", and -φόρος (''-phóros''), meaning "bearing", or sperm ampulla is a capsule or mass containing spermatozoa created by males of various animal species, especiall ...
. Hours after the fertilization, the female releases an embryo strand that contains its own nematocytes; both euryteles and isorhizas. Cubozoas are the only class of cnidarian that contains species that perform the “wedding dance” to transfer the spermatophores from the male into the females, including the ''Carybdea sivickisi'' species. It is previously believed that medusa species only reproduce once in their life before dying a few weeks later, a semelparity lifestyle. Alternatively, in July 2023, the box jelly species ''Chiropsalmus quadrumanus'', were found to potentially have iteroparous reproduction, meaning they reproduce multiple times in their life. Oogenesis appears to happen numerous times as oocytes are discovered in four stages; pre-vitellogenic, early vitellogenic, mid vitellogenic, and late vitellogenic. Continuous research needs to be conducted to determine if box jellyfish are semelparity or iteroparous, or if it is species dependent.


Genetics

Box jellyfish have a mitochondrial genome that is arranged into eight linear chromosomes. As of 2022, only two Cubozoan species were fully sequenced, ''
Alatina alata ''Alatina alata'' (Reynaud, 1830), often called a sea wasp, is a species of box jellyfish found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and in the Caribbean and Arabian Sea. Ecology ''Alatina alata'' is mostly observed in shallow near shore ...
'' and '' Morbakka virulenta''. ''A. alata'' has 66,156 genes, the largest gene count for any
Medusozoa Medusozoa is a clade in the phylum Cnidaria, and is often considered a subphylum. It includes the classes Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Staurozoa and Box jellyfish, Cubozoa, and possibly the parasitic Polypodium (animal), Polypodiozoa. Medusozoans are dis ...
n. The mitochondrial genome of box jellyfish is uniquely structured into multiple linear fragments. Each one of the eight linear chromosomes have between one and four genes including two extra genes. These two extra genes (mt-polB and orf314) encode proteins. There are only a few studies that have been completed involving the research of mitochondrial gene expression in box jellyfish.


Danger to humans

Box jellyfish have been long known for their powerful sting. The lethality of the Cubozoan venom to humans is the primary reason for its research. Although unspecified species of box jellyfish have been called in newspapers "the world's most venomous creature" and the deadliest creature in the sea, only a few species in the class have been confirmed to be involved in human deaths; some species are not harmful to humans, possibly delivering a sting that is no more than painful. When the venom of the box jellyfish was sequenced, it was found that more than 170 toxin proteins were identified. The high quantity of toxin proteins that the box jellyfish possess is the reason they are known to be so dangerous. Stings from the box jellyfish can lead to skin irritation, cardiotoxicity, and can even be fatal.


Australia

Hugo Flecker, who worked on various venomous animal species and poisonous plants, was concerned at the unexplained deaths of swimmers. He identified the cause as the species of box jellyfish later named '' Chironex fleckeri''. In 1945, he described another jellyfish envenoming which he named the "Irukandji Syndrome", later identified as caused by the box jellyfish species ''Carukia barnesi''. In Australia, fatalities are most often caused by the largest species of this class of jellyfish, ''Chironex fleckeri'', one of the world's most venomous creatures. After severe ''Chironex fleckeri'' stings, cardiac arrest can occur quickly, within just two minutes. ''C. fleckeri'' has caused at least 79 deaths since the first report in 1883, but even in this species most encounters appear to result only in mild envenoming. While most recent deaths in Australia have been in children, including a 14-year old who died in February 2022, which is linked to their smaller body mass, in February 2021, a 17-year-old boy died about 10 days after being stung while swimming at a beach on Queensland's western Cape York. The previous fatality was in 2007. At least two deaths in Australia have been attributed to the thumbnail-sized Irukandji box jellyfish. People stung by these may suffer severe physical and psychological symptoms, known as
Irukandji syndrome Irukandji syndrome is a condition that results from envenomation by certain box jellyfish. In rare instances the sting may result in cardiac arrest and death. The most common jellyfish involved is the '' Carukia barnesi'', a species of Irukand ...
. Nevertheless, most victims do survive, and out of 62 people treated for Irukandji envenomation in Australia in 1996, almost half could be discharged home with few or no symptoms after 6 hours, and only two remained hospitalized approximately a day after they were stung. Preventative measures in Australia include nets deployed on beaches to keep jellyfish out, and jugs of vinegar placed along swimming beaches to be used for rapid first aid.


Hawaii: research and dangers

Researchers at the
University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
's Department of Tropical Medicine found the venom causes cells to become porous enough to allow potassium leakage, causing
hyperkalemia Hyperkalemia is an elevated level of potassium (K+) in the blood. Normal potassium levels are between 3.5 and 5.0 mmol/L (3.5 and 5.0 mEq/L) with levels above 5.5mmol/L defined as hyperkalemia. Typically hyperkalemia does not cause symptoms. Oc ...
, which can lead to cardiovascular collapse and death as quickly as within 2 to 5 minutes. In
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, box jellyfish numbers peak approximately seven to ten days after a full moon, when they come near the shore to spawn. Sometimes, the influx is so severe that lifeguards have closed infested beaches, such as Hanauma Bay, until the numbers subside.


Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and Texas

In parts of the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
, the number of lethal cases is far higher than in Australia. In the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, an estimated 20–40 people die annually from Chirodropid stings, probably owing to limited access to medical facilities and
antivenom Antivenom, also known as antivenin, venom antiserum, and antivenom immunoglobulin, is a specific treatment for envenomation. It is composed of antibodies and used to treat certain venomous bites and stings. Antivenoms are recommended only if ...
. The recently discovered and very similar ''
Chironex yamaguchii ''Chironex yamaguchii'', commonly known as ハブクラゲ (transliterated as habu-kurage, literally meaning "Viper Jellyfish" in Japanese) and as "hub jellyfish" due to erroneous machine translations, is a species of box jellyfish found in coas ...
'' may be equally dangerous, as it has been implicated in several deaths in Japan. It is unclear which of these species is the one usually involved in fatalities in the Malay Archipelago. Warning signs and first aid stations have been erected in Thailand following the death of a 5-year-old French boy in August 2014. A woman died in July 2015 after being stung off Ko Pha Ngan, and another at Lamai Beach at
Ko Samui Ko Samui (or Koh Samui), often locally shortened to Samui (, ), is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Mu Ko Samui, Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko Samui was granted munic ...
on 6 October 2015. In 1990, a 4-year-old child died after being stung by ''
Chiropsalmus quadrumanus ''Chiropsalmus quadrumanus'', commonly known as the four-handed box jellyfish, is a species of box jellyfish found in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The sting is venomous and dangerous to humans, especially ...
'' at
Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston, Texas, Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, Texas, Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City ...
,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, on the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
. Either this species or '' Chiropsoides buitendijki'' is considered the likely perpetrator of two deaths in West Malaysia.


Protection and treatment


Protective clothing

Wearing
pantyhose Pantyhose, sometimes also called sheer (textile), sheer tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertisement of new design panties (All ...
, full body
lycra Spandex, Lycra, or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity (physics), elasticity. It is a polyether-polyurea copolymer that was invented in 1958 by chemist Joseph Shivers at DuPont. Name The name ''spandex'', which ...
suits, dive skins, or
wetsuit A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on the water. ...
s is an effective protection against box jellyfish stings. The pantyhose were formerly thought to work because of the length of the box jellyfish's stingers (nematocysts), but it is now known to be related to the way the stinger cells work. The stinging cells on a box jellyfish's tentacles are not triggered by touch, but by chemicals found on skin, which are not present on the hose's outer surface, so the jellyfish's nematocysts do not fire.


First aid for stings

Once a tentacle of the box jellyfish adheres to skin, it pumps nematocysts with venom into the skin, causing the sting and agonizing pain. Flushing with vinegar is used to deactivate undischarged nematocysts to prevent the release of additional venom. A 2014 study reported that vinegar also increased the amount of venom released from already-discharged nematocysts; however, this study has been criticized on methodological grounds. Vinegar is made available on Australian beaches and in other places with venomous jellyfish. Removal of additional tentacles is usually done with a towel or gloved hand, to prevent secondary stinging. Tentacles can still sting if separated from the bell, or after the creature is dead. Removal of tentacles may cause unfired nematocysts to come into contact with the skin and fire, resulting in a greater degree of envenomation. Although commonly recommended in folklore and even some papers on sting treatment, there is no scientific evidence that
urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and many other animals. In placental mammals, urine flows from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penile meatus (mal ...
,
ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
,
meat tenderizer A meat tenderizer or meat pounder is a tool for mechanically tenderizing and flattening slabs of meat. Meat tenderizers come in at least three types: * The first, most common, is a tool that resembles a hammer or mallet made of metal or wood ...
,
sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate ( IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cat ...
,
boric acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen orthoborate, trihydroxidoboron or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white ...
,
lemon juice The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
,
fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...
, steroid cream,
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
, cold packs,
papaya The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus '' Carica'' of the family Caricaceae, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...
, or
hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscosity, viscous than Properties of water, water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usua ...
will disable further stinging, and these substances may even hasten the release of venom. Heat packs have been proven for moderate pain relief. The use of pressure immobilization bandages, methylated spirits, or vodka is generally not recommended for use on jelly stings.


Possible antidotes in humans

In 2011, researchers at the University of Hawaii announced that they had developed an effective treatment against the stings of Hawaiian box jellyfish by "deconstructing" the venom contained in their tentacles. Its effectiveness was demonstrated in the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
''Nova'' episode "Venom: Nature's Killer", originally shown on North American television in February 2012. Their research found that injected zinc gluconate prevented the disruption of red blood cells and reduced the toxic effects on the cardiac activity of research mice. It was later found that copper gluconate was even more effective. A cream containing copper gluconate has been produced, to be applied to inhibit the injected venom; although it is used by U.S. military divers, evidence that it is effective in humans is only anecdotal. In April 2019, a team of researchers at the University of Sydney announced that they had found a possible antidote to ''Chironex fleckeri'' venom that would stop pain and skin necrosis if administered within 15 minutes of being stung. The research was the result of work done with
CRISPR CRISPR (; acronym of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. Each sequence within an individual prokaryotic CRISPR is d ...
whole genome editing in which the researchers selectively deactivated skin-cell genes until they were able to identify ATP2B1, a calcium transporting
ATPase ATPases (, Adenosine 5'-TriPhosphatase, adenylpyrophosphatase, ATP monophosphatase, triphosphatase, ATP hydrolase, adenosine triphosphatase) are a class of enzymes that catalyze the decomposition of ATP into ADP and a free phosphate ion or ...
, as a host factor supporting
cytotoxicity Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells. Examples of toxic agents are toxic metals, toxic chemicals, microbe neurotoxins, radiation particles and even specific neurotransmitters when the system is out of balance. Also some types of d ...
. The research showed the therapeutic use of existing drugs targeting
cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...
in mice, although the efficacy of the approach had not been demonstrated in humans.


References


External links


Cubozoa classification
{{DEFAULTSORT:Box Jellyfish Medusozoa Venomous animals Cnidarians of the Pacific Ocean Cnidarians of the Indian Ocean