Talk:Box jellyfish

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Contents

[edit] Vinegar

IMPORTANT QUESTION:

The information on the page for the box Jellyfish recommends pouring vinegar onto the wound before removing any attached tentacles, whereas the page on the Portugese Man Of War states that it is imperative not to pour vinegar until all tentacles have been removed (as the acetic acid causes the tentacles to release their sting).

Now, I know that the PMOW isn't strictly in the same family group as the box jellyfish, but I suspect one of these pieces of advice is wrong. Although this wouldn't ordinarily matter, the fact that Wikipedia is providing advice which could potentially save someone's life, I think we ought to get it right. I'm not a scientist so not best to advise.

Any thoughts?

RESPONSE The venom of the Box Jelly and Portuguese Man-o-War act in different ways, and are chemically dissimilar. Acetic acid effectively neutralizes Box Jelly nematocysts, but does encourages the firing action in the Man-o-War's stinging cells.

[edit] Health warning

That health warning down the bottom seems kind of awkward for an encyclopedia article. - 128.184.2.1 04:40, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

I just watched a show on the discovery channel that indicated that the SMALLEST form of the Box jellyfish was the most fatal, not the largest form. In fact, the show said that the tiny iracongi (sp?) jellyfish that is the size of a thumbnail is approximately 300 times more potent than the largest box jellyfish.

I think the spelling is "Irukandji " for that small and deadly box jellyfish.

I read in many books that sea wasps that grow to colossal sizes kill faster due to more exposure to skin

The "Irukandji " is actually very different from the box jellyfish, it only has four tentacles and its venom does different things, and if it is truly a 'box jellyfish' they dont get very large at all .

--Deedle 01:25, 20 March 2006 (UTC)The Irukandji species has a venom that is so deadly that it will kill in hours. The largest box jelly, Chironex fleckeri, along with the majority of other jellyfish, have nematosyts that, when activated, turn inside out and the small venom-needles along the entire side of the stinger inject poison into the victim. In larger jellyfish, the need to kill instantly is not a problem, being as the larger jellyfish can use their tentacles (which are stronger and bigger)to hold on to the prey, while the smaller jellyfish (who only injects a more concentrated poison from a small tip of the nematosis, and nowhere esle) cannot do such things, and must kill their victims instantly. By doing so, the small Irukandji can devour its prey instantaneously, and not risk having the prey escape. Indeed, the smallest jellyfish, Irukandji, sleeps, as well as the other jellies, to conserve energy. THis seems illogical, but during this time, there are more predators than prey to the Irukandji, and so it is ilogical to try to hunt. Also, during this time, it is necessary to conserve energy, because unlike many other animals, the jellyfish cannot store fat, and so must constantly feed. The Irukandji actually has many tentacles, but they branch out from four main stalks. The most interesting thing about the box jellyfish, in my opinion, is the odd sense of intelligence. This bizarre animal can actually see... it has four eyes, plus two that can only sense light. THere are also four "brains". These brains are in fact like a smart nervous system. They don't send info to one center, but instead, when something happens, there is an automatic response. <<<<<<<<<<<<< If you have not seen the Discovery Channel show on these jellyfish, and you are interested in this subject, I reccomend watching it. All of the info on this page has been derived from it, I believe.>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The box jellyfish has also been on the BBC radio and I have personally added some info gleened from the BBC radio. Snowman 10:09, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Irukandji

Irukandji are only responsible for 2 confirmed deaths, through anaphylaxis. Due to their immensely small size, odds are a Box Jelly sting was incorrectly labeled for sensationalist purposes.

[edit] Bicarbonate

This article recommends against bicarbonate, while the jellyfish article recommends it. I don't know which is right, but the two articles surely should agree. -- cmh 04:17, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Phylogenetic status?

What is the actual evidence that the cubozoans belong to the cnidarians? Their strange body plan (with an anus at the tip of each tentacle (4 in the case of the simplest species), 4 ganglia, 8 groups of eyes (with one proper eye in each and some simpler light sensitive organs) might be explained as the result of a mutation of a bilaterian ancestor. Consider a worm that, by some "reshuffling of its hox-genes" mutates into an animal in which 4 worms are joined togeteher, sharing a mouth between them. The result would be an animal with 4 brains, 8 sets of eyes and 4 tentacles with an anus at the tip of each, i.e. with the cubozoan body plan. It is just a hypothesis, but I would not be astonished if an analysis of their genes would turn up a close relationship to some phylum of bilaterians instead of cnidarians. So has the link to the cnidarians actually been established or have they just been put into that group based on superficial similarities? Just a question, I am not an expert on them. Nannus 19:39, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Schypozoa and Jellies

Just a wonder......why do they still use "Jellyfish" here instead of the OFFICIAL name, "Jelly?" And Hydrozoa? Where do they mention Schypozoa? Please answer! le-lover

[edit] antivenin vs. antivenom

Someone changed back from antivenin to antivenom, claiming that is the spelling in Australia. Is there actual evidence to support this claim? Most dictionaries don't seem to list "antivenom". Dfeuer 09:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Its called antivenom in Australia (and most of the world except the USA), CSL make it and its official name is Box Jellyfish Antivenom [1] (link shows all the Australian antivenoms).Mr Bungle 10:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
That's a brand name. We're talking about a word, not a brand. The Oxford English Dictionary, last I checked, was not American, and it doesn't even list antivenom as an alternate spelling. You're going to have to come up with something better than a commercial website to demonstrate that the spelling "antivenom" is actually the common one in Australia. Dfeuer 11:20, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
Checking with dictionary.com shows one definition of "antivenom", in CancerWEB's online medical dictionary. Interestingly, the entries in that dictionary for "antivenom", "antivenin", and "antivenene" suggest that the first, "antivenom", may have a slightly different, more general meaning than the others: it can refer to an antitoxin used against non-animal toxins. Dfeuer 11:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
Nowadays the most common term is antivenom, it doesn’t mean antitoxin, antitoxin means antitoxin (i.e. botulinum antitoxin). Medical authorities use antivenom, almost all journal articles use antivenom as the preferred term, i.e. Clinical Toxicology the official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists use antivenom, as the following review papers show [2], [3], [4]. Toxicon another leading toxinology journal also uses antivenom [5], [6], [7], The world health organization also prefer antivenom in their literature [8]. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association and the American Association of Poison Control Centers also run ‘The Antivenom Index’ which show where antivenoms are stored around America.[9] All these authorities in clinical toxicology use the term antivenom, Wikipedia should too.Mr Bungle 01:58, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
You have demonstrated that the term "antivenom" is used. That's a first step. You have not demonstrated that it is "the most common term" or "the preferred term", either in Australia or elsewhere. You also have demonstrated that WHO has used the term, but did not demonstrate that they prefer it, or that they use it more often than "antivenin". Finally, I didn't say that antivenom meant antitoxin. Rather, I said that according to the dictionary I checked, antivenin is a more specific term than antivenom, which seems to be a more specific term than antitoxin. If this is correct, then the differences in meaning between the terms should be at least as significant in the decision about which should be used than which term was used by the original editor. Dfeuer 10:59, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
To the extent possible, can we shift this discussion over to Talk:Antivenin? Anything specifically relating to this article, rather than antivenin vs. antivenom in general can continue here. Dfeuer 11:19, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Changed "spit" to "venom". Spit is generally regarded as that liquid produced in the mouth or buccal cavity to lubricate food and begin predigestion, and applied from the mouth or mouth parts. The nematocyst acts to deliver a specific venom load and is quite separate from a mouth or similar structure.219.90.246.218 09:36, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Anecdotal Survival Story

The story of the man who was stung 5 times,clinically died, and awoke during his autopsy comes across as highly anecdotal. Are there any references to this case?

---Would like to know as well. The story ("as told by so and so") has more to do with this guy finding Jesus than in "documenting" his attack. A lot of it reads like...to be polite...a dramatization of events at best, and utter religious/mystical glurge at worst. If nothing else, I think converting the wording from 'documentation' to 'anecdote' would be a step in the right direction. I'd like to see the reference removed entirely. --24.148.236.234 (talk) 06:28, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

And to follow up, the story linked from the citation has itself absolutely no cites or references to documentation of the event, and the story is writen by a third party (yet in first person perspective). It's all just weird.--24.148.236.234 (talk) 06:36, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Removed it (it doesn't say which species or anything specific and it appears to have more to do with the guy finding Jesus). Mr Bungle | talk 06:54, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Intro

"... arguably the most venomous creatures in the world." I think this needs to be cited or changed to 'among...'--Cammacleay (talk) 21:47, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Done. Thanks, SqueakBox 03:58, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Second sentence of intro needs grammatical(?) cleanup: "The Cubozoans are a categorized separately other types of jellyfish, and are considered more evolved; Scyphozoans." Phyloptera (talk) 15:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Treatmaent of Exposure

I just thought that it should be noted that this article says to use methylated spirits and vodka to treat the stings if its available while another page I have visited (http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/the-great-barrier-reef/jellyfish.htm) says in big red warning letters that you should NOT use either methylated spirits or alcohol..

Maybe that should be looked into as someone must be making a mistake somewhere about this... 60.241.78.146 (talk) 13:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vision

It doesn't mention what species it's describing under the vision section. All 19 species surely aren't the same.167.7.17.3 (talk) 13:47, 6 June 2008 (UTC)