---
title: "What the sources say about the Box Jellyfish | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "47 claims from the Box Jellyfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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# What the sources say about the Box Jellyfish (*Chironex fleckeri*)

> 47 claims from the Box Jellyfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Box Jellyfish](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/box-jellyfish/)

## Chironex fleckeri (box jellyfish). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Chironex_fleckeri/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A Transparent Predator with Up to Sixty Tentacles | There can be as many as 15 tentacles hanging from each of the four pedalia for a total of up to 60 tentacles per jellyfish. (note: covers the heading's spelled-out tentacle count) |
| Its box-shaped bell usually measures 16 to 24 cm across, though some grow to 35 cm | The bell is transparent and is usually between 16 and 24 cm, though some reach a diameter of 35 cm. |
| up to 60 tentacles hang from its four corners, trailing as far as 3 metres (10 feet) | There can be as many as 15 tentacles hanging from each of the four pedalia for a total of up to 60 tentacles per jellyfish. Each of the tentacles ... can grow up 3 m in length. (note: 10 feet, converted from 3 m (ADW's own conversion: 9.84 ft)) |
| A full-grown adult can weigh up to 2 kilograms | Range mass 2 (high) kg |
| Unlike the drifting jellyfish most people picture, box jellyfish are active swimmers | Most notably, box jellyfish can actively swim, whereas most species of jellyfish float wherever the current takes them with no control over their direction. |
| They can move at up to 4 knots, though by day they typically travel at 1 knot or less | box jelly have the ability to move up to 4 knots, during the day they typically travel at 1 knot or less |
| Adults feed mainly on small fish and prawns | Adult box jellyfish tend to feed in shallow waters, mainly on small fish and prawns. |
| until they're fully grown they feed primarily on shrimp | Until they are fully grown, box jellyfish feed primarily on shrimp, most commonly Acetes australis. |
| Each spring, box jellyfish gather in rivers to spawn | Every spring, box jellyfish gather to spawn in rivers and similar bodies of water. |
| then die shortly after | Shortly after spawning, box jellyfish die. |
| Twenty-Four Eyes and No Brain | Box jellyfish contain sensory organs including 24 eyes, but they do not have a brain. (note: covers the heading's spelled-out eye count) |
| 24 eyes | Box jellyfish contain sensory organs including 24 eyes, but they do not have a brain. (note: short claim that also covers the tagline and stats.superpower numeral) |
| A box jellyfish has no brain, yet it carries 24 eyes | Box jellyfish contain sensory organs including 24 eyes, but they do not have a brain. |
| photoreceptors that tell light from dark, it's drawn toward light and it
      tends to avoid darker shapes | Box jellyfish do have eyes, which have photoreceptors. Photoreceptors give box jellyfish the ability to detect light from dark ... Box jellyfish, however, are attracted to light and tend to avoid darker shapes. (note: FAQ 2) |
| Its eyes' photoreceptors tell light from dark, it's drawn toward light and it tends to avoid darker shapes | Box jellyfish do have eyes, which have photoreceptors. Photoreceptors give box jellyfish the ability to detect light from dark ... Box jellyfish, however, are attracted to light and tend to avoid darker shapes. |
| Its only known predator is the green turtle, whose skin is too thick for the venom to penetrate | The only known predator of box jellyfish are green turtles ... Venom does not penetrate the thick skin of green turtles, which are thus unaffected by the stings of box jellyfish. |
| Each tentacle carries millions of microscopic stinging cells | Each tentacle contains millions of nematocysts, which are microscopic hooks where venom is held and delivered. |
| it had accounted for more than 60 recorded deaths, most of them children and young adults | has accounted for more than 60 deaths in the last 100 years. Most fatalities are documented in children and young adults. (note: ADW's count, framed there as 'in the last 100 years') |
| Prawns and small fish, with young feeding mostly on shrimp | Adult box jellyfish tend to feed in shallow waters, mainly on small fish and prawns. ... Until they are fully grown, box jellyfish feed primarily on shrimp (note: stats.diet, corrected during this rewrite (dropped the unsupported "crabs" and "marine larvae")) |
| Chironex fleckeri, the box jellyfish, is nearly invisible in the water off Northern Australia and Southeast Asia, where it hunts through shallow coastal waters, estuaries and mangrove channels. | Chironex fleckeri, also known as box jellyfish, lives in and around the waters of Australia and Southeast Asia. (note: range clause; the habitat detail (shallow waters, mangrove channels) is the same ADW passage cited for stats.habitat) |
| nearly invisible in the water | The bell is transparent and is usually between 16 and 24 cm (note: also covers the tagline's 'translucent' and vibe.reason's 'nearly invisible in clear water') |
| Not Evaluated | IUCN Red List No special status (note: stats.conservationStatus; GBIF's copy of the IUCN Red List returns no assessment for Chironex fleckeri (checked 2026-09-18), so the species is unassessed) |
| As of 2012 | Last updated: 2012-02-26 (note: the date of the ADW account the death count comes from (Schmidt, T. 2012), so the count is 'more than 60' as of 2012 rather than a rolling century) |
| weightKg: 2 | Range mass 2 (high) kg (note: task #613; battleStats.weightKg. ADW states only an upper figure. Light class runs 0.1 to 10 kg, so a 16 to 24 cm bell with 3 m tentacles is Light at any plausible adult mass) |

## Brinkman et al. (2015). Transcriptome and venom proteome of the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri. BMC Genomics.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1568-3

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| researchers who sequenced its venom call it the largest and most dangerous cubozoan jellyfish to humans | The box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri, is the largest and most dangerous cubozoan jellyfish to humans. |
| Triggered, each one explosively releases a harpoon-like tubule that injects venom into its victim | When triggered to discharge, each nematocyst explosively releases a harpoon-like tubule that injects a toxic cocktail of venom components into the victim or prey. |

## Yanagihara & Shohet (2012). Cubozoan Venom-Induced Cardiovascular Collapse Is Caused by Hyperkalemia and Prevented by Zinc Gluconate in Mice. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051368

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A venom protein punches pores about 12 nanometres wide clean through human red blood cells | Well-formed pores were observed that appeared to fully perforate the RBC membranes with an inner diameter of approximately 12 nm. (note: electron microscopy of human red blood cells exposed to purified C. fleckeri venom porin) |
| potassium pours out through the holes | Marked potassium release occurred within 5 min and hemolysis within 20 min in human red blood cells (RBC) exposed to venom or purified venom porin. |
| that potassium surge began within 5 minutes of exposure, with the cells breaking down by 20 minutes | Marked potassium release occurred within 5 min and hemolysis within 20 min in human red blood cells (RBC) exposed to venom or purified venom porin. |
| researchers found this hyperkalemia, a dangerous spike in blood potassium, to be the likely trigger for the cardiovascular collapse that follows a severe sting | These findings suggest that hyperkalemia is the critical event following Chironex fleckeri envenomation |
| Its venom drives potassium out of red blood cells | Marked potassium release occurred within 5 min and hemolysis within 20 min in human red blood cells (RBC) exposed to venom or purified venom porin. (note: FAQ 1) |
| The venom's pore-forming toxin punches roughly 12-nanometre holes
      through red blood cells | Electron microscopy revealed abundant ~12-nm transmembrane pores in RBC exposed to purified venom porins. (note: FAQ 3) |
| researchers say, through muscle-cell
      membranes too | The venom has also been recognized to create pores in myocytic membranes (note: FAQ 3; the paper's word is 'myocytic', so 'heart-muscle' was narrowed to 'muscle-cell') |
| Potassium then leaks rapidly into the bloodstream, a
      condition called hyperkalemia, which researchers found to be the likely
      trigger for the cardiovascular collapse that follows a severe sting | These findings suggest that hyperkalemia is the critical event following Chironex fleckeri envenomation (note: FAQ 3) |
| pore-forming venom that drives potassium out of human blood cells within 5 minutes | Marked potassium release occurred within 5 min and hemolysis within 20 min in human red blood cells (RBC) exposed to venom or purified venom porin. (note: stats.superpower) |
| carrying a
    pore-forming venom that can cause cardiovascular collapse and death | Chironex fleckeri (Australian box jellyfish) stings can cause acute cardiovascular collapse and death. (note: vibe.reason, corrected during this rewrite (was "bio-electrical punch", not this animal's mechanism)) |
| researchers found this hyperkalemia, a dangerous spike in blood
      potassium, to be the likely trigger for the cardiovascular collapse that
      follows a severe sting | These findings suggest that hyperkalemia is the critical event following Chironex fleckeri envenomation (note: FAQ 1) |

## Gordon & Seymour (2012). Growth, Development and Temporal Variation in the Onset of Six Chironex fleckeri Medusae Seasons: A Contribution to Understanding Jellyfish Ecology. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031277

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| at the growth rates measured off Queensland, wild medusae, the free-swimming adult form, reach sexual maturity at about 45 to 50 days old, and the oldest one researchers aged was roughly 78 days | At the rapid rate of growth quantified here, medusae would become sexually mature after ~45-50 d ... Given that the oldest medusa was ~78 d (note: statolith growth-ring ageing of wild medusae, Weipa, north Queensland; the maturity figure is the paper's projection from its measured growth rate) |
| clustered into four eye-bearing sensory structures called | the statoliths contained within the statocysts of cubomedusae rhopalia (eye bearing sensory structures) ... Each of the four rhopalial niches (note: covers the body sentence and FAQ 2; the paper's IPD definition puts the rhopalia between the pedalia, so the earlier 'hanging from the bell's corners' was cut) |
| Coastal shallow waters, estuaries | A total of 484 medusae were collected from seven sites at Weipa ... Weipa sites were classified as coastal or estuarine sites. (note: stats.habitat and the body's 'estuaries': ADW names rivers and mangrove channels, this paper is where medusae are recorded from estuarine sites) |

## DeLoughery (2022). There's something in the water: an overview of jellyfish, their stings, and treatment. International Maritime Health.

https://doi.org/10.5603/imh.2022.0034

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Chironex fleckeri is described in medical literature as the most lethal jellyfish worldwide | The most lethal jellyfish worldwide, Chironex fleckeri , or the Australian box jellyfish, is a Cubozoan (note: covers the body sentence and FAQ 1) |
| death can occur in as little as 2 to 10 minutes | death from envenomation can occur in as little as 2-10 minutes (note: in the review's Chironex fleckeri paragraph; covers the body sentence and FAQ 1) |
| estuaries, and mangroves of Northern Australia and
    Southeast Asia | ranging from Northern Australia to Southeast Asia (note: stats.habitat range clause; the habitat types are the ADW passage cited on the neighbouring claim) |
| off Northern Australia and Southeast Asia | ranging from Northern Australia to Southeast Asia |
| A Sting That Can Stop a Heart in Minutes | Death can occur due to respiratory and cardiac arrest from the venom ... death from envenomation can occur in as little as 2-10 minutes (note: covers the heading; the body and FAQ 1 carry the figure itself) |
| venom that can kill a
  person in minutes | death from envenomation can occur in as little as 2-10 minutes (note: tagline) |

## Hamner, Jones & Hamner (1995). Swimming, feeding, circulation and vision in the Australian box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri (Cnidaria:Cubozoa). Marine and Freshwater Research.

https://doi.org/10.1071/mf9950985

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| in the laboratory medusae swam away from dark objects | In the laboratory, medusae visually reacted to dark objects by swimming away from them. (note: the paper's aquarium animals were juvenile to subadult medusae) |