Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being mobile. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion for highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle; the medusa is normally the sexual phase, which produces planula larvae that disperse widely and enter a sedentary polyp phase before reaching sexual maturity.
Bonaire is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC islands, 80 km off the coast of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather all year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs.
Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom 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.
The lion's mane jellyfish, also known as the giant jellyfish, arctic red jellyfish, or the hair jelly, is one of the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans. It is common in the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, and in western Scandinavian waters south to Kattegat and Øresund. It may also drift into the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea. Similar jellyfish – which may be the same species – are known to inhabit seas near Australia and New Zealand. The largest recorded specimen was measured off the coast of Massachusetts in 1865 and had a bell with a diameter of 210 centimetres and tentacles around 36.6 m (120 ft) long. Lion's mane jellyfish have been observed below 42°N latitude for some time in the larger bays of the East Coast of the United States.
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 Irukandji jellyfish. Those stung may experience severe or even excruciating pain.
Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the Australian box jelly, and nicknamed the sea wasp, is a species of extremely venomous box jellyfish found in coastal waters from northern Australia and New Guinea to Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. It has been described as "the most lethal jellyfish in the world", with at least 64 known deaths in Australia from 1884 to 2021.
The Irukandji jellyfish are any of several similar, extremely venomous species of rare jellyfish. With a very small adult size of about a cubic centimetre (1 cm3), they are both the smallest and one of the most venomous jellyfish in the world. They inhabit the northern marine waters of Australia. This type of jellyfish reproduces sexually with eggs and sperm. They fire their stingers into their victim, causing a condition known in humans as Irukandji syndrome, which can be fatal. There are about 16 known species of Irukandji, of which Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, Malo maxima, Malo filipina and Malo bella are the best known.
Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia. It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, but other common names are purple-striped jelly, purple stinger, purple people eater, purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish. In Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea"; in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night"", and lux, "light"; thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate seas, although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, represent closely related but currently unrecognized species.
Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the immortal jellyfish, is a species of small, biologically immortal jellyfish found worldwide in temperate to tropic waters. It is one of the few known cases of animals capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary individual. Others include the jellyfish Laodicea undulata and species of the genus Aurelia.
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.
Malo kingi or the common kingslayer is a species of Irukandji jellyfish. It was first described to science in 2007, and is one of four species in the genus Malo. It has one of the world's most potent venoms, even though it is no bigger than a human thumbnail. As an Irukandji, it can cause Irukandji syndrome, characterized by severe pain, vomiting, and rapid rise in blood pressure.
The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) is a research institute located in Syracuse, New York. Its mission is to improve taxonomical exploration and the cataloging of new species of flora and fauna. Since 2008, IISE has published a yearly "Top 10" of the most unusual or unique biota newly identified in the previous year, with the aim of drawing attention to the work done in taxonomy across the world over the previous year.
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 children.
Crurifarcimen is a monotypic genus of millipedes containing the single species Crurifarcimen vagans. Its common name is wandering leg sausage. This millipede is endemic to Tanzania, where it is known only from the Usambara Mountains. It was formally described in 2011 and placed in a newly erected genus of its own. It was declared one of the world's top 10 new species of 2012 by Arizona State University's International Institute for Species Exploration.
Copula is a monotypic genus of box jellyfish in the family Tripedaliidae of the phylum Cnidaria. The only species in the genus is Copula sivickisi, a very small gelatinous, bell-shaped jellyfish with four tentacles that is active only at night. It is unusual among box jellyfish in having a mating ritual and internal fertilization. Its scientific name honours the Lithuanian zoologist Pranciškus Baltrus Šivickis.
Pelagothuria is a genus of sea cucumbers in the family Pelagothuriidae. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Pelagothuria natatrix.
Lisa-ann Gershwin, also known as Lisa Gershwin, is a biologist based in Launceston, Tasmania, who has described over 200 species of jellyfish, and written and co-authored several non-fiction books about Cnidaria including Stung! (2013) and Jellyfish – A Natural History (2016). She provides independent advice related to jellyfish worldwide to the media, online and via The Jellyfish App. She was a candidate in the 2021 Tasmanian state election running as an independent in the electorate of Clark.
Cyanea nozakii or Cyanea nozaki (misspelling), commonly known as the ghost jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish found in the northern Pacific Ocean near the coasts of China and Japan. Along with other species of large jellyfish, it is showing a greater tendency to appear in large numbers and cause blooms.
Morbakka virulenta is a species of box jellyfish that is found in waters near the islands of Japan. The species was originally described in the genus Tamoya by Kamakichi Kishinouye in 1910. However, unlike other species of that genus, this jellyfish did not have the vertical gastric phacellae which protect the inside of the bell with nematocyst warts. As a result, it was reclassified to the genus Morbakka due to its distinctively shaped rhopaliar horns which resemble rabbit ears. Because of its painful stings, M. virulenta has been nicknamed Hikurage, which is “fire jellyfish” in Japanese.
Tamoya haplonema is a species of box jellyfish in the genus Tamoya. It is the type species of the genus and was described in 1859. The medusa possesses four tentacles, one each on an inter-radial pedal.
