''Chironex yamaguchii'', commonly known as ハブクラゲ (transliterated as

habu is a Ryukyuan name referring to certain venomous snakes: * The following species are found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan: ** ''Protobothrops elegans'', a.k.a. the Sakishima habu, found in the southern Ryukyu Islands ** ''Protobothrops flavoviri ...

-kurage, literally meaning "Viper Jellyfish" in Japanese) and as "hub jellyfish" due to erroneous machine translations, is a species of

box jellyfish Box jellyfish (class Cubozoa) are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like (i.e., cube-shaped) body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including ' ...

found in coastal waters around

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

and the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

) and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Discovered in 2009, it is highly venomous and has been the cause of several deaths in Japanese waters.

Taxonomy

In the past, this species was considered conspecific with ''Chiropsalmus quadrigatus'' found in Malaysia. That name however, is now considered as a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

'' and it is no longer recognized as a separate species. It has now been established that ''Chironex yamaguchii'' is a different species and is more closely related to ''

Chironex fleckeri ''Chironex fleckeri'', commonly known as the Australian box jelly, and nicknamed the sea wasp, is a species of extremely venomous box jellyfish found in coastal waters from northern Australia and New Guinea to Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and S ...

'', however, the name ''Chiropsalmus quadrigatus'' is widely used in the literature.

Description

The

medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...

is box-shaped and has a maximum height of about which is only about one half to one third the size of ''

''. On average, however, the animals are much smaller, being more typically in height. The maximum inter-radial diameter is . The outer surface of the bell is smooth in adults, however the bells of juvenile jellyfish are warty. There are four short stalks known as pedalia which carry up to nine tentacles, but on average each bears only seven tentacles (compared with up to fifteen tentacles in ''Chironex fleckeri''). The

nematocyst A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast) is a type of cell containing a large secretory organelle called a ''cnidocyst'', that can deliver a sting to other organisms as a way to capture prey and defend against predators. A cnidocyte explosively ...

threads are lavender.Oba, A.; Hidaka, M.; Iwanaga, S.: ''Nematocyst composition of the cubomedusan ''Chiropsalmus quadrigatus'' changes with growth.'' Hydrobiologia, 530/531, 173–177, Dordrecht 200
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The manubrium is cross-shaped with lancet-shaped lips. It measures only about three quarters of the bell height. Each of the four

rhopalia Rhopalia (singular: rhopalium) from Ancient Greek ῥόπαλον (''rhópalon'') 'club' are small sensory structures of certain Scyphozoan (true jellyfish) and Cubozoan (box jellyfish) species. Description The structures typically occur in mul ...

has six eyes, two with lenses, and two each of slot and pit pigment eyes. The statolith is oval and is located at the base of each rhopalium. There are eight different types of stinging cells.

Venom

This box jellyfish is highly venomous. The stings cause great pain and have caused several deaths in Japanese waters. The symptoms include cardiac arrest and

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a r ...

with acute

pulmonary oedema Pulmonary edema (British English: oedema), also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive fluid accumulation in the tissue or air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. This leads to impaired gas exchange, most often leading to shortness ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q293354 Chirodropidae Animals described in 2009 Invertebrates of Japan