Giant, deadly jellyfish baffles scientists

Giant, deadly jellyfish baffles scientists

Giant, deadly jellyfish baffles scientists
(Image credit: iStock)

Researchers caught a new species of jellyfish off Australia's northwest coast in 2013 — and they still can't explain it.

The Keesingia gigas is a recently discovered type of Irukandji jellyfish — but unlike its fingernail-sized cousins, Keesingia gigas is about the length of a human arm. Like all Irukandji jellyfish, it carries a potentially fatal venom that can cause pain, nausea, even stroke or heart failure. That's scary, but explainable. What's head scratching is that no specimen of Keesingia gigas has ever been photographed or collected with tentacles.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Nico Lauricella

Nico Lauricella was editor-in-chief at TheWeek.com. He was formerly the site's deputy editor and an editor at The Huffington Post.