WEBVTT - How Do Box Jellyfish Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Von here. If sharks can have

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<v Speaker 1>a week all their own, why not jellyfish? Is it

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<v Speaker 1>because jellyfish don't have a menacing maw or a fear

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<v Speaker 1>inducing dorsal fin? Is it because no one's made a

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<v Speaker 1>thrilling movie where jellyfish terrorized beach goers? Or is it

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<v Speaker 1>because jellyfish look like squished gummy bears with spaghetti strands

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<v Speaker 1>for tentacles. Whatever the reason, as we have discussed on

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<v Speaker 1>the show before, there's a type of jellyfish that's more

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<v Speaker 1>menacing than the most threatening shark. They're a number of

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<v Speaker 1>species in the biological class Kubazolla, but are more commonly

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<v Speaker 1>referred to as box jellyfish. Unlike they're merely annoying lightly

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<v Speaker 1>stinging cousins, the box jellyfish has a powerful venom how powerful.

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<v Speaker 1>One type of boxy, the Australian box jellyfish, is so

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<v Speaker 1>poisonous that if one of its six foot that's nearly

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<v Speaker 1>two meter long tentacles touches you, it's possible you might

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<v Speaker 1>die before you reach the shore. It's considered the most

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<v Speaker 1>venomous marine animal on the planet, which is impressive because

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<v Speaker 1>lots of marine life is not messing around. Take for example,

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<v Speaker 1>another box jellyfish with scientific name Karakea Barnessi. It's Lilliputian

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<v Speaker 1>by comparison, usually under an inch long or about twenty

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<v Speaker 1>five millimeters, but their sting can cause severe pain, headaches, nausea,

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<v Speaker 1>and anxiety that can last for days and require hospitalization.

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<v Speaker 1>A box jellyfish generally live in their own neighborhoods in

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<v Speaker 1>the Indo Pacific Ocean and in the waters off of

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<v Speaker 1>northern Australia, though they also inhabit the waters around Hawaii

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<v Speaker 1>and off the Gulf Coast and East Coast of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States. Only a handful of species can be found

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<v Speaker 1>in all three oceans. Also known as sea wasps and

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<v Speaker 1>marine stingers, A box jellyfish, a class that includes some

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<v Speaker 1>fifty described species, can have up to fifteen tentacles with

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<v Speaker 1>about five thousand stinging cells known as nidocysts. Each of

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<v Speaker 1>those cells contains a tiny capsule that can fire microscopic

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<v Speaker 1>stingers into its prey at more than thirty five miles

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<v Speaker 1>or sixty kilometers per hour, releasing a toxin that can

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<v Speaker 1>cause a rapid spike in blood pressure, which causes the

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<v Speaker 1>heart to seize up and kills the victim. Although no

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<v Speaker 1>one has kept an official fatality record. For example, in

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<v Speaker 1>the Philippines alone, between twenty and forty people die each

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<v Speaker 1>year from box jellyfish stings. Experts say the mortality rate

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<v Speaker 1>around the world is higher than what's reported because doctors

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<v Speaker 1>often misdiagnosed the symptoms or simply get the cause of

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<v Speaker 1>death wrong. Well, what is known is just forty three

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<v Speaker 1>species of box jellyfish together cause more deaths and injuries

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<v Speaker 1>than all sharks, stingrays, and sea snakes combined. You'd have

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<v Speaker 1>better odds of surviving if bitten by a black widow.

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<v Speaker 1>Box jellyfish are curious breed. For one thing, they have

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<v Speaker 1>two dozen eyes, most of which have lenses, corneas, and irises.

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<v Speaker 1>In other words, they can see pretty well, whereas the

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<v Speaker 1>anatomy of a regular jellyfish only allows them to distinguish

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<v Speaker 1>light from dark. Box jellyfish also have a more advanced

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<v Speaker 1>nervous system than their cousins, allowing them to quickly avoid

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<v Speaker 1>and engage objects, and, unlike other species of jellyfish that

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<v Speaker 1>wait for their meals, boxes swim around and actively hunt

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<v Speaker 1>their prey. They propelled through the water by opening and

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<v Speaker 1>shutting their bell shaped heads like an umbrella in a rainstorm,

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<v Speaker 1>and can travel. It speeds around four miles an hour

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<v Speaker 1>that's about six and a half kilometers per hour. For

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<v Speaker 1>the article this episode is based on How's to Forks

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with Dr Angel Nagahara, a marine biologist at the

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<v Speaker 1>University of Hawaii at Manoa and the world's foremost expert

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<v Speaker 1>on box jellyfish. She explains that the box jellyfish does

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<v Speaker 1>not release venom like a rattlesnake would. Instead, one of

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<v Speaker 1>box stings release is a digestive cocktail that helps the

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<v Speaker 1>creature catch and digest its meals. In humans, however, she

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<v Speaker 1>said that that digestive cocktail acts like a quote molecular buckshot,

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<v Speaker 1>causing holes in all of our cells. A person's heart

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<v Speaker 1>can stop and as little as five minutes. So what

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<v Speaker 1>should you do if you are stung by a box jellyfish?

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<v Speaker 1>The Nakahara has been stung several times by boxes and survived,

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<v Speaker 1>and she studied the most common remedies, such as removing tentacles,

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<v Speaker 1>rinsing the bite with vinegar, or applying ice. She and

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<v Speaker 1>her colleagues found that those and other common remedies made

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<v Speaker 1>the sting even worse. She said that the best way

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<v Speaker 1>to treat a box jelly sting is to seek immediant

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<v Speaker 1>emergency assistance. She also helped develop a venom inhibitor cream that,

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<v Speaker 1>if available, can be applied to the wound. Bus jellyfish

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<v Speaker 1>are among the oldest animals on the planet, dating back

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<v Speaker 1>at least six hundred million years, having survived several mass extinctions.

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<v Speaker 1>Their numbers, as that of all jellyfish are g wing

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<v Speaker 1>exacerbated by warming oceans and oxygen depleting fertilizers that eventually

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<v Speaker 1>find their way into the water, which in the end

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<v Speaker 1>is actually bad for their environments. In Agihara said, we're

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<v Speaker 1>a greater threat to them than they are to us.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article box jellyfish World's

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<v Speaker 1>most venomous sea creature on house to forks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by John Paritano. Brain Stuff is production of by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with house to forks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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