A team of scientists led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has discovered a new species of box jellyfish with 24 eyes in a pond in the Mai Po Nature Reserve, northwest of Hong Kong.
The new marine species, named ‘Tripedalia maipoensis sp. nov’, belongs to the family ‘Tripedaliidae’, which has been widely reported in tropical and subtropical waters; however, it is the first time a species in this family has been recorded in Chinese watersaccording to a study published in the scientific journal Zoological Studies.
We named the new species ‘Tripedalia maipoensis’ to reflect its type of locality.” said Qiu Jianwen, one of the authors of the post on Monday. It is noted that the jellyfish, whose body is cube-shaped and transparent, was discovered in a brackish water pond in an investigation during the summers of 2020 to 2022 and, subsequently, described with morphological and molecular data.
Scientists maintain that the group to which the species belongs, whose length on average is 1.5cm and the three tentacles in each of its four corners, can measure up to 10cm long, is made up of small organisms, but also includes some of the most poisonous animals. Thanks to the shape of their tentacles, they can swim faster than other types of jellyfish.
It is also reported that the eyes of the new species are symmetrically divided into four groups and in each of these, according to the researchers, two of the eyes have lenses that allow imagingwhile the other four only can perceive light.
“Box jellies are a small group of cnidarians with only 49 species reported worldwide,” Qiu explained, claiming that the new discovery highlights the diversity of marine life throughout China. Likewise, it is emphasized that future studies are necessary to improve the understanding of the distribution and diversity of the new species of jellyfish.
The entrance Cube-shaped jellyfish with 24 eyes discovered in China was first published on newspaper TODAY.
