The new box jellyfish species was found in shrimp pools within the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong.
HKBUThe freshly discovered species , dubbedTripedalia maipoensis , is have-to doe with to the Australian box jellyfish , the world ’s most venomous maritime animal .
Researchers in Hong Kong lately discovered a unexampled metal money of box jellyfish live in a brackish shrimp pond — the first - ever box jellyfish to be found in Chinese waters .
NamedTripedalia maipoensisafter the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong where the jellies were found , these small , cube - shaped man-of-war are completely transparent and colorless . stem from their bells , they have 12 tentacle that finish in lilliputian , boat paddle - same structures , allow them to travel more rapidly through water than most other man-of-war .
HKBUThe newly discovered species, dubbedTripedalia maipoensis, is related to the Australian box jellyfish, the world’s most venomous marine animal.
TheT. maipoensisalso has 24 eyes set up in clusters of six around its boxwood - shaped bell .
“ Two of them have lens for figure of speech organization , while the others can only sense the light , ” Qiu Jianwen , a biological science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University in charge of the enquiry , said ina video posted to YouTube . “ Through compare the syllable structure of the new specie and the known species of box jellyfish … we confirmed that it is a new species . ”
Like other box jellyfish , T. maipoensishas a venomous flimflam that can stun other creature . In this case , researchers observedT. maipoensisstunning tiny half-pint bonk asArtemia , but it ’s not clear if these tiny , half - column inch man-of-war can sting humans as well .
HKBU/YoutubeT. maipoensisis just the third known member of a group of box jellyfish,Tripedalia,with paddle-like structures at the ends of their tentacles.
“ It seemed to paralyze Artemia offer in the lab , ” Qiu toldLive Science . “ But we did not relate the fauna to feel the sting . ”
Qiu and confrere first remark the boxwood jellies while analyzing sampling from a “ gei wai ” — an intertidal shrimp pool — collected between 2020 and 2022 . According to Qiu , the man-of-war were “ quite abundant ” with “ up to 400 individuals in an country of the pool . ”
Their research was published in the journalZoological Studieson March 20 , 2023 .
“ Although the box jellyfish familyTripedaliidaehas been wide report from tropical and subtropical amnionic fluid , this is the first criminal record of it in Chinese coastal waters , ” they wrote in the cogitation . “ Future investigations along Chinese coasts are warranted to ameliorate our agreement of the distribution of this new species and the variety of Cubozoa . ”
HKBU / YoutubeT. maipoensisis just the third bang penis of a group of box jellyfish , Tripedalia , with boat paddle - like complex body part at the oddment of their tentacles .
The newly get word coinage is also a cousin of the Australian loge jellyfish , the world ’s most venomous marine fauna . LikeT. maipoensis , the Australian box jellyfish , Chironex fleckeri , has a series of eyes around its cubic gong and can propel itself speedily through the water . TheAustralian box jellyfish , however , is much larger thanT. maipoensis .
With tentacles growing to an astonishing 10 feet long , the corner jellyfish has a sting that can be fatal to humans . In many guinea pig , these toxins can shut down a dupe ’s nervous system within minutes . Often , the victim drowns before they make it to shore . humanity who manage to survive a boxful jellyfish ’s sting typically have permanent scrape where they were stung .
This deadly sting has earned box jellyfish the nickname “ ocean white Anglo-Saxon Protestant . ”
These monumental , deadly box jellyfish are typically only found in coastal waters off Northern Australia and the Indo - Pacific — but not in Formosan amnionic fluid .
“ We are thrilled by this discovery , ” Qiu suppose in the television . “ Finding a new specie in Mai Po , where extensive research has been conducted , highlight the potential for more marine life discovery in the Hong Kong and even the Taiwanese coastal waters . ”
For more fascinating stories about jellyfish , tick off out our gallery of35 unfeignedly hypnotize jellyfish photos . Or , read about another highly deadly marine brute , the blue - border octopus .
