#keesingia gigas

[dailycreatures]

Creature 72

Keesingia gigas

These funky jellyfish live off the coast of western Australia. They have dangerous stings that can cause severe pain and in some cases heart failure. Keesingia gigas are strange in that supposedly they should have tentacles, however all specimens found so far haven’t had any.

fact sources: wikipedia and smithsonian magazine

image source: i naturalist

[biovisual]

New Species of Venomous Jellies Discovered in Australia By Megan Gannon, News Editor, Live Science | August 13, 2014 

Two new species of jellyfish (Keesingia gigas and Malo bella) have been discovered off the coast of Western Australia. One is surprisingly large. The other is tiny. Both are extremely venomous.

These two newfound creatures are thought to pack painful stings that cause Irukandji syndrome, a constellation of symptoms that includes lower back pain, vomiting, difficulty breathing, cramps and spasms. Though Irukandji syndrome usually isn’t life threatening, two people who were stung in the Great Barrier Reef in 2002 died from severe Irukandji-related hypertension.

Research scientist Lisa-ann Gershwin, who is director of the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services, described the new box jellyfish, or cubozoans, last month in the Records of the Western Australian Museum [available as a PDF].

Gershwin said that in all of the photos the jellyfish did not appear to have tentacles and that the specimen was also captured without them.

“Jellyfish always have tentacles ... that’s how they catch their food,” she said. “The tentacles are where they concentrate their stinging cells. ... Some of the people working with it through the years actually got stung by it and experienced rather distressing Irukandji syndrome.”

IMAGES:  [1] An example of the Keesingia gigas jellyfish. Photograph: John Totterdell/MIRG Australia. Via The Guardian  [2] Keesingia gigas in bloom of sea tomatoes, Crambione mastigophora. Image credit: John Totterdell / MIRG Australia.. Via Sci-News  [3] That’s not a plastic bag. That’s a newly described species of box jellyfish, Keesingia gigas. Image Credit: Lisa-ann Gershwin

[todropscience]

TWO NEW SPECIES OF TOXIC JELLYFISH (WITH NOT TENTACLES) FOUND IN AUSTRALIA

A giant and extremely venomous jellyfish found off West Australia's north-west coast has researchers stumped because it appears to have no tentacles.

The Keesingia gigas is one of two new species of irukandji jellyfish recently discovered by Marine Stinger Advisory Services director, and jellyfish expert Lisa-Ann Gershwin.

While irukandji jellyfish are normally only the size of a pinky fingernail, the Keesingia gigas species is the length of an arm and believed to cause the potentially-deadly irukandji syndrome. The condition can cause pain, nausea, vomiting and in extreme cases, stroke and heart failure.

The two new species bring the total number of jellyfish believed to cause irukandji syndrome worldwide to 16 and

Researcher said the species could shed its tentacles as a means of defence, like some bioluminescence jellyfish who drop their glowing tentacles in order to distract predators, but there was no evidence that any irukandji had that capability

Photo Keesingia gigas by Image courtesy John Totterdell/MIRG Australia.

Reference (Open Access) Gershwin 2014.Two new species of box jellies (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida) from the central coast of Western Australia, both presumed to cause Irukandji syndrome