|
Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as "box jellyfish", 'marine stinger' and formerly the 'sea wasp', is a highly venomous species of box jellyfish. Not a true jellyfish, it is a very fast swimmer and has quite sophisticated eyes. Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ...
“Animalia†redirects here. ...
Classes Anthozoa — corals and sea anemones Scyphozoa — jellyfish Staurozoa — stalked jellyfish Cubozoa — sea wasps or box jellyfish Polypodiozoa Hydrozoa — hydroids, hydra-like animals Trilobozoa — extincts Cnidaria[1] (IPA: [2]) is a phylum containing some 11,000 species of relatively simple animals found exclusively in aquatic, mostly marine, environments. ...
Orders see text Box jellyfish, also known as sea wasps, are jellyfish-like creatures found in Australia and the Philippines, which can be extremely deadly, with venom in their tentacles. ...
Cubomedusae is an order of venomous jellyfish within class Cubozoa. ...
Genera Chirodropidae is a family of venomous box jellyfish within class Cubozoa. ...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. ...
Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Families see text Jellyfish net enclosure at Ellis Beach, Queensland Box jellyfish are water-dwelling invertebrates belonging to the class Cubozoa, named for their cube-shaped medusae. ...
Orders Stauromedusae Coronatae Semaeostomeae Rhizostomae Jellyfish are marine invertebrates belonging to the Scyphozoan class. ...
Chironex fleckeri grows to approximately the size of a basketball, is nearly transparent and has four clusters of 15 tentacles. When the jellyfish are swimming the tentacles contract so they are about 15cm long and as thick as bootlaces, when they are hunting the tentacles are thinner and about three metres long. The tentacles are covered with stinging cells or nematocysts which are activated by pressure and a chemical trigger: they react to proteinous chemicals. Tentacles can refer to the elongated flexible organs that are present in some animals, especially invertebrates, and sometimes to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. ...
Cnidocytes are prey-capture and defensive cells unique to animals of the phylum Cnidaria. ...
The polyps are found in estuaries in northern Australia, the medusa is pelagic and is found in the coastal waters of northern Australia and adjacent areas of the tropical Indo-West Pacific, and are also found in southeastern Asia. They are not usually found on the reef. In zoology, a polyp is one of two forms of individuals found in many species of cnidarians. ...
In biology, a medusa (also known as a hydromedusa) is a form of cnidarian in which the body is shortened on its principal axis and broadened, sometimes greatly, in contrast with the hydroid or polyp. ...
The pelagic zone is the part of the open sea or ocean comprising the water column, i. ...
World map showing the location of Asia. ...
In common with other box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri have four eye-clusters with twenty-four eyes. Some of these eyes seem capable of forming images, but it is debated whether they exhibit any object recognition or object tracking and it is not known how they process information from their sense of touch and eye-like light detecting structures. Chironex fleckeri live on a diet of prawns and small fish and are themselves prey to turtles. Superfamilies Penaeoidea Aristeidae Benthesicymidae Penaeidae Sicyoniidae Solenoceridae Sergestoidea Luciferidae Sergestidae Prawns are shrimp-like crustaceans, belonging to the sub-order Dendrobranchiata [1]. Prawns are distinguished from the superficially similar shrimp by the gill structure which is branching in prawns (hence the name, dendro=tree; branchia=gill), but is lamellar in...
blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles Suborders Cryptodira Pleurodira See text for families. ...
Box jellyfish warning signpost at a Cape Tribulation beach in Queensland, Australia. Chironex fleckeri appear to avoid human beings when they are close to them and so can be said to avoid stinging humans. Their sting is incredibly powerful and extensive stings can be rapidly fatal. The sting produces excruciating pain accompanied by an intense burning sensation (one victim famously described the pain as "like having a bucket of fire poured over you"[citation needed]), and the venom has multiple effects attacking the nervous system, heart and skin at the same time. While an appreciable amount of venom (about ten feet or three metres of tentacle) needs to be delivered in order to have a fatal effect on an adult human, the potently neurotoxic venom is extremely quick to act. Fatalities have been observed as little as four minutes after envenomation, notably quicker than any snake, insect or spider and prompting its description as the world's deadliest venomous animal. Although an antivenom exists, treating a patient in time can be difficult or impossible. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (954x1508, 99 KB) Summary A signpost at a beach in Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia warning of the presence of the Box Jellyfish Chironex fleckeri and others. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (954x1508, 99 KB) Summary A signpost at a beach in Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia warning of the presence of the Box Jellyfish Chironex fleckeri and others. ...
View from Cape Tribulation on the sand beach Cape Tribulation ( [1]) is a headland and locality in northern Queensland, Australia 110km north of Cairns. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Venom. ...
Broken tenticles remain active until broken down by time and even dried tenticles can be reactivated if wet.
Dousing a sting with vinegar immediately inhibits any nematocysts which have not been activated, while rubbing a sting exacerbates the problem. Water, urine and "Coke" have been shown to be ineffective. After dousing with vinegar, rescue breaths and CPR may be required and adhering tenticles should be removed carefully from the skin using protected hands or tweezers. The Australian snake bite treatment of using roller bandages to bandage the effected limb was recommended until approximately 2005 at which time further research indicated that this in fact result in nematocysts to discharge dispite the use of vinegar. Antivene must be administered urgently therefore ringing the ambulance service is paramount.
Estimates vary, but it is thought that Chironex fleckeri has killed about one hundred people in Australia over the last one hundred years, making it possibly the most dangerous species of jellyfish in the world.
External links
- Chironex fleckeri on oceanfootage.com
- Chironex fleckeri on fccj.org
- Emergency treatment
- Inactivation of nematocysts using acetic acid
- Australian Institute of Marine Science - Sea wasp information page
- Marine Medic page about box jelly and other Australain poisonous marine creatures
- Management of various animal envenomations including box jelly
|
Feeds |
Contact