The box jellyfish has the most deadly Sting arguably of any species. One sting can have you dead within two minutes if you don’t have an antidote close by then you’re in serious trouble! Even then the antidote takes longer than 2 minutes to start working, so if you’re getting stung by a large box jelly fish that has tentacles of over 2 metres, then there is very little that can be done.
The box jellyfish is another beast from its relatives. Most jellyfish do not even have a brain and therefore do not really hunt but just go with the wind, or in this case the waves and currents. Box jellyfish are deadly predators with 360 degree vision, can swim up to 20 mph and have brains. All that mixed with the fact that they consist of 96% water.
We all know that Australians are crazy but Professor Jamie Seymour takes a bold step above his fellow people, as he goes out wrestling box jellyfish in the name of science in the video below. He is of course not just doing out of fun but in the name of science, although he does seem to get his thrills from catching them and keeping them in his laboratory.
More than being just a video about how dangerous the species is, he explains why the sting is deadly and why it is important to work on developing a faster acting antidote to help prevent more deaths.
If we have learnt one thing from this video is that the world needs to see more of this type of content.