Box Jellyfish Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines & The Region

  Sad news from Sabah with a 7-year old girl succumbing to the deadly venom of a box jellyfish sting.  Little has been reported about the child or the incident, though it's said that she collapsed on the sand when coming out of shallow water, and a subsequent post mortem concluded that the " cause of death was jellyfish envenomation ". Her tragic death occurred at Pantai Sawangan in Kuala Penyu, south-west of Kota Kinabalu,  on Thursday 21 August, 2025. This region too commonly is the site of serious box jellyfish stings and fatalities.   Devastatingly, it's unlikely there were any warning signs or information posters or even treatment options such as vinegar available at this popular beach. There appears to be a lot of work behind the scenes at a scientific level, though on Malaysia's beachfronts there's a continued pattern of young children dying from box jellyfish stings. Not so in northern neighbour Thailand where a decline in sting numbers and improved vi...

  In very welcome and long-overdue news, Malaysia's The Star is reporting that researchers are in the process of identifying dangerous jellyfish species local to seas around Sabah. A first of its kind, this is a great initiative by a committed number of scientists that will shed light on a growing problem and hopefully lead to real and meaningful change. Malaysia desperately needs a system of dangerous jellyfish safety and awareness to reduce the risk of serious stings and death that have gone under-reported for decades.  On Saturday, 09 Nov 2024, The Star's Muguntan Vanar wrote: Experts aim to identify venom from 17 jellyfish species A team of experts led by Lahad Datu Hospital is working on identifying venom from 17 jellyfish species found in Sabah waters. They hope to gain better knowledge and possibly seek out appropriate antidotes to treat deadly stings. Jellyfish sting incidents in Malaysia remain poorly documented, with only 15 recorded deaths from 1990 to 2022, si...

So, how safe is Koh Samui? There's been plenty of confusion and panic. Is it OK to swim? How many of these 'killer jellyfish' are there? Where are they? What do they look like? How big is the risk? What do I do if I get stung? Here is the original guide , followed by a September 2025 update. The risk remains.

  Zoe Cahill, a 23-year old Australian, was 50-metres offshore at Zen Beach on Koh Phangan in October 2023 when she swam into a box jellyfish and received excruciating life-threatening stings.  Alone in shock and agony, crying and screaming, Zoe summoned all of her courage and strength and somehow managed to get back to land, collapsed and critically began to turn blue.  Desperate first-responders frantically doused her in litres of vinegar while a nurse performed CPR and, after restoring vital signs, she was rushed to the local hospital.  An emergency speed-boat transported Zoe to Koh Samui where with extreme sting damage to limbs and torso she remained in a hospital bed for a month. Zoe's story as covered in mainstream media including Australia's 9 News and  related to thousands of her  @zoe_cahill  Instagram followers on  social media is another cautionary tale of survival with box jellyfish in South-East Asia...

Most have at some stage or another had to try through gritted teeth answering the one question we do not want to or cannot: how bad is the pain? From a stubbed toe to a migraine, the intensity impacted by the patient's pain threshold obviously varies. Many know that jellyfish stings are usually bad but box jellyfish stings, no matter who you are, are so bad they almost defy description. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is mild and 10 is unimaginable and unspeakable, box jellyfish stings as so eloquently put by lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel when explaining his amp in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, "... go to eleven." American professor Brian Fry from the University of Queensland, Australia is a venom expert and when rating that country's Top 10 most painful stings he placed two cubozoa or box jellyfish species at the top.  Coming in second was the Chironex and at number one was the Irukandji . Chironex is a Chirodropida or multi-tentacle box jellyfish and Irukandji ...

  There is so much unknown about what creatures live in our oceans but a recent discovery in Thailand has at least narrowed the mystery down by one. And this time it is a new genus and species of box jellyfish found in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Named Gershwinia thailandensis after renowned jellyfish expert Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin, this single-tentacle cubozoa was found through physical and molecular analyses to be distinct from its distant relatives in the Irukandji family including the Morbakka or Fire Jellyfish. Interestingly, at least eleven species of box jellyfish have been collected in waters around Thailand in recent years with only four being described including the deadly Chironex indrasaksajiae responsible for numerous deaths and serious injury. Gershwinia thailandensis is not believed to be a killer per se but is considered to be dangerous causing considerable pain with potential symptoms similar to Irukandji syndrome and the p...

  Box jellyfish are learners, not thinkers, according to a recent study conducted by a team of German and Danish scientists. We know that box jellyfish are brainless and rely on a nervous system developed over millions of years to navigate and hunt their prey. It's a fact that box jellyfish have some kind of short-term memory, though it's unclear how long this learned behaviour lasts. In this case, a Caribbean species of box jellyfish, tripedalia cystophora which is also found in South-East Asia, was studied resulting in clear evidence they can learn to manoeuvre around obstacles to avoid a potentially damaging collision. The roots of mangrove trees, which form the breeding ground for box jellyfish, get in the way of catching small fish and prawns, and can snag fragile tentacles. So, these box jellyfish use their visual senses - their 24 eyes - to swim around the roots.    If the same exists in other box jellyfish including the lethal chironex sp...

  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 jel...

Box jellyfish are most probably, though officially unnamed, the species responsible for the death of a 5-year old French boy in Malaysia this week.   Sadly, the tragic news comes as no surprise with Malaysia still unwilling to create a network of awareness including effective prevention and treatment systems as its neighbour Thailand has done with considerable success. The boy was playing or wading in shallow water at Teluk Nipah beach on Pangkor Island with his family when he was struck by the jellyfish. He screamed in agony and was taken onto the sand where he lapsed into unconsciousness. Taken to the local health clinic, the boy was officially pronounced dead within 45 minutes.  We are sorry to say that this scenario is typical of a box jellyfish sting - a child, shallow sandy beach, an agonising scream, panicked parents, no understanding of proper treatment, shocking painful death. We are also sorry to say that this scenario is avoidable. It does not need to...

  Hungry? Got a craving for something completely different? There's nothing funny about a box jellyfish sting, and while they are a fascinating animal, it's hard to imagine that there's anything tasty about them either.  Having some fun describing the curious nature and habits of box jellyfish is one thing, but eating one straight off the plate is another thing entirely. What Is A Box Jellyfish? Big Dream Boatman Research In Hawaii What follows seems absurd. Can we say from the outset, kids, adults, everyone, please, DO NOT TRY THIS, EVER! We are only linking to these insane YouTube videos to boggle the mind and highlight what is clearly a bad idea. Having said that, perhaps, just perhaps, they are onto something. Some species of jellyfish are indeed edible. We've never tried it so cannot judge on taste, texture, after-effects, etc. But, particularly in some parts of Asia, jellyfish are harvested in large numbers and served in homes and restaurants. Apparently, jellyfis...

  Thailand may not have got everything perfect in its fight against box jellyfish, but it has got a lot right and been nothing short of proactive and persistent. A far cry from a number of its neighbours. Box jellyfish stings still occur in Thailand as do the occasional fatalities. No surprise here with so many beaches being their natural habitat. However, it could be much worse. In 2015, for example, popular Koh Samui was in a world of pain with a series of widely-publicised box jellyfish deaths threatening the island's rich tourism industry. Instead of burying their heads in the sand as others have, the Thais took the initiative and created a prevention and treatment program involving experts, government officials, hospitals and locals. It worked. And it still works. There are now many examples on this blog of how the Thais have achieved such impressive results. There are also some examples of what they have got wrong, though they are far outweighed by the successe...

  One of a number of countries in South-East Asia and around the world to open their doors and welcome back sadly-missed touri$ts, Thailand is at last seeing those endless, swarming queues at Suvarnabhumi Immigration - though obviously not hordes of Russians - meaning beach resorts are once more teeming with thawing bodies and tan oil while, as the latest box jellyfish warning tells us, an unwelcome local annoyance is waiting to spoil the fun. Koh Mak towards the Cambodian border in the Gulf of Thailand is no stranger to box jellyfish and severe life-threatening stings. This beautiful, laidback, environmentally-progressive island deserves better than to have potentially-deadly jellyfish causing concern; it is a gem.  The swaying palms, sweeping sands, inviting water and postcard views from lazy, mostly-deserted beaches belie an intermittent but persistent box jellyfish problem and, recently, reports of their presence in numbers as well as stings a...

  "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...

  The image of a large Chironex species of box jellyfish that heads this page was snapped by an amateur photographer at Langkawi, the jewel of the north in Malaysia's tourism crown. The photograph was effortlessly taken  around 9pm  on 12th May, 2010 at Telaga Harbour, Langkawi from a moored boat using a camera and flash. In March, 2021, the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies  (CEMACS) - Malaysia's leading marine education and research body - announced the release of a book: Field Guide to the Jellyfish of Western Pacific. A collaborative work where individual nation members of the IOC Westpac have tabled and published their extensive research in jellyfish taxonomy and  identification, the book is the first of its kind in the region and a comprehensive, definitive guide on jellyfish in the Western Pacific. That is, except for, the large Chironex species in this photograph. Read previous Post on this photograph: Langkawi Box Jellyfish 2010 Langkawi and nearby ...