''Chirodectes'' is a very rare, monospecific genus of
box jellyfish in the family
Chirodropidae.
The first and only scientifically studied specimen was captured from the outer edge of the
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
– about off the coast of northeast
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
– on 2 May 1997.
It was found within of the surface, and the researchers who first described it speculated that it may have been relocated to the area by
Cyclone Justin.
Its
bell measured approximately in height, and it could only be observed for several hours in an examination lab due to how delicate it was.
There are no recorded cases of a human
sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
from ''Chirodectes'' as it "failed either to sting, or adhere to, the hand and forearm of an incautious volunteer" during the examination, but it is assumed – due to its relatively large size and to the extremely venomous nature of some chirodropids – that ''Chirodectes'' is itself venomous.
A video of the ''Chirodectes'' was recorded underwater before it was collected. Four photos captured from the original 1997 video were published in the scholarly journal ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum'' in 2005.
In 2022, a jellyfish was filmed by a scuba diver off the coast of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, which prompted
Lisa-ann Gershwin, the marine biologist who first described the genus ''Chirodectes'', to examine the video. A frame-by-frame comparison between the 1997 and 2021 videos convinced Gershwin that the latter likely depicts a new species; however, as of , it has yet to be formally classified, and a paper has not been submitted for peer review.
Taxonomy
''Chirodectes'' was created in 2006 from ''C. maculatus'', a species originally in the genus ''
Chiropsalmus
}
''Chiropsalmus'' is a genus of box jellyfish in the family Chiropsalmidae.
Species
The following species are recognized in the genus ''Chiropsalmus'':
*''Chiropsalmus alipes'' Gershwin, 2006
*''Chiropsalmus quadrumanus
}
''Chiropsalmus quad ...
''.
Species
The following species are in this genus:
*''Chirodectes maculatus''
(Cornelius, Fenner & Hore, 2005)
References
External links
*
*
Chirodropidae
Medusozoa genera
{{cubozoa-stub