Jellyfish Prove to be More Deadly, Awesome, than I had Previously Suspected

The Telegraph reports on the population explosion of killer jellyfish. They are box jellyfish, a species so venemous that just a touch can cause agonizing death within three minutes.

Key Quote from the story: "Scientists are warning that their populations are exploding and will pose a monumental problem unless they are stopped." Man, doesn't that just sound like the beginning of a horror movie?



The story of how this population explosion came about is something straight from a horror movie as well: As food supplies began to dwindle out at sea, swarms of box jellyfish began to move inland. In order to preserve their fish stocks from the jellyfish that were moving in, Japanese fishermen decided to cull the jellyfish numbers by using fleets of fishing boats to drag razor wire through the swarms. According to the article, this plan "backfired spectacularly."

Scientists discovered all too late that box jellyfish are genetically programed to propogate their species by going into a breeding frenzy whenever there is a sustained attack on a significant number of their population.

Check out what a swarm of box jellyfish looks like. How would you like to see these bad boys showing up at your birthday party?



The Telegraph includes some bullet-pointed Fun Facts that drive home just how horrifically awesome these evil bastards are:

• Four brains that operate competitively in the search for food.

• A highly complex sensory capacity and the ability to distinguish colour.

• The ability to live in inhospitable waters at a depth of up to 10,900 metres (over 35,760 feet).

• A total of 24 eyes with moveable pupils giving them 360-degree visibility.

• Box jellyfish have 6-8ft long tentacles. Just 5-6ft across the body is enough to kill a human in 180 seconds.

• Venom is released on contact - even after it is dead - and each creature has 4000,000,000 venomous fibres.

• Humans who have been stung and survived have needed 30-40 milligrams of morphine. A broken leg requires between 5-10 milligrams.

• Despite decades of study scientists have been unable to unravel the mysteries of its complex venom but it is known to contain 20 different proteins.

We are totally doomed.