Big Box Jellyfish Blog Southeast Asia

  Blakang mati, or behind death, is the original Malay name for Singapore's Sentosa Island, and now the rather ominous new name for a recently discovered species of deadly Chironex box jellyfish. Singapore's first, t he planet's fourth. Blakangmati ,  joins the can-kill list of extremely dangerous Chironex species, ranging from tropical Australia's infamous Fleckerii and the Japan-Philippines' region's Yamaguchii , to the relative newcomer Indrasaksajiae , that calls  Thailand and surrounding areas, including Singapore, home. Researchers at Tohoku University and the National University of Singapore  determined through m orphological analysis that it is genetically different to  Yamaguchii, and it also has a slight anatomical difference, making it a completely new species that packs the same punch as its Chironex cousins. Singapore's New Chironex Species Box Jellyfish Description What To Do If Stung The findings were published  15 May, 2026  in Raffles...

  Right now, there are a lot of very good people working to make everyone box jellyfish-safe and sting-free in South-East Asian seas. Their number are small but they're a dedicated bunch committing themselves to surveilling, testing, researching, communicating, training, educating, treating and advancing the cause of effective box jellyfish prevention and sting treatment. Through interconnected active networks from the beach to the bureaucrats, change is taking place with  knowledge, strategies and actions progressively making a positive difference. Their message to the public is simple: Swim inside a prevention net if one's available. Wear a full-length lycra stinger suit if outside a net. Immediately and only use vinegar on a sting. And then there is peeing. Urinating on some poor victim's jellyfish sting is widely, and wrongly, considered an accepted treatment. It's not, okay? And what's worse, if that's possible, whenever there's mention of a jellyfish ...

  Tragically, it can happen anywhere there is a known, or unknown, habitat and presence of box jellyfish. It can be a beautiful, calm, tropical sandy beach. There can be many people, a few or none. Someone might even be wearing a protective lycra suit, though this is unlikely. Sometimes there are warning signs, often not. Perhaps there is a prevention net, usually there isn't. Or, there might be a lifeguard or two patrolling the beach and occasionally dragging a sampling net.  There may recently have been a mild or serious jellyfish sting there, or far worse, a fatal sting, but there is no obvious record or information.  You, eager to swim, wanting to cool down in the immersive sea in such a spectacular setting, naturally head unaware into the water. Little do you realise, or maybe you do but what are the odds, that the risk is ever-present and this swim could be your last. On the weekend, at a popular beach in Australia's far north-east, it happened, again...

  "Scientists have now also discovered that other species of jellyfish, most notably other cubozoans or box jellyfish (of which Irukandji is one of the smallest) also give rise to this syndrome. There are at least 8–12 other species of Irukandji jellyfish found in Australian waters. Most have been documented in the warmer waters of the east coast. Research has revealed that they also like to extend their tentacles and have caused injury in other parts of the world. Unfortunately there are no definitive tests that can confirm if patients are the victims of Irukandji stings. Treatment of the cryptic syndrome is also complex due to the varying symptoms, so it’s easy to misdiagnose." - Australian Geographic  If you've ever inexplicably felt like hell some time after emerging from the sea in South-East Asia and more than likely went to hospital where you could not get any relief from medication, comfort from loved ones and an explanation from doctors, a box jellyfish sting and...

Box jellyfish are widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific region and, while this blog is primarily focused on South-East Asia, tragic news of a fatality in a far north-east corner of tropical Australia resonates with relevancy throughout thousands of similar coastal communities. A young man of 17 has sadly lost his life, stung by a box jellyfish while net fishing with family at a faraway beach on the York Peninsula.  Box jellyfish are active right across the northern stretch of Australia during the wet season from October to May and stings from Chironex fleckerii and Irukandji occur though deaths are uncommon. Australia has developed a reasonably sophisticated and successful system of prevention and treatment education and tools so as to avoid tragic deaths such as that which occurred at Bamaga in Queensland this week. But, it's far from perfect. In fact, its effectiveness through concerted effort over a number of years is limited to specific places and areas, us...

Social distancing takes to the sea with Singapore's popular playground island of Sentosa shocked by the sight of a large box jellyfish in its midst on 3 July, 2020.  Furthermore, Singapore's shock gets worse with reports of several stings.  Marine Stewards posted a video to Facebook of a large single-tentacle cubozoan at ONE15 Marina and word soon spread on social media warning people to stay out of the water. WATCH THE SENTOSA BOX JELLYFISH VIDEO The video shows the unsociable box jellyfish swimming solo on the water's surface with three long tentacles draping behind it - one seems to have gone missing in action. The appearance is that of a Morbakka, and it is certainly one to avoid.  While a multi-tentacle box jellyfish or Chirodropid (specifically Chironex species, as pictured atop of our home page) is considered the world's most venomous animal and is responsible for dozens of deaths annually throughout South-East Asia, the Morbakka is in the scientific order of Car...