Krish
RF STAFF
I don't know if anyone has ever seen or heard about one, but they had a special on the Discovery channel last night on the Box Jelly fish. This jelly fish is said to be the most venomous creature in the ocean and possibly in the world. They can grow up to the size of a basketball and have tenticles as long as 3 meters with 5,000 stinging cells. They are found around Australia's Great Barrier Reef and are said to be number 1 cause of death to any other creature in Australia including Great White sharks. They say that if you do not get medical treatment within 2 minutes of being stung you will 99% of the time die...Point blank! The venom goes straight to the heart and also the pain is so excruciating that you will usually drown from shock before reaching the shore! They have to put up special nets to protect swimmers in certain areas otherwise swimming is prohibited at certain times of the year when they are in abundance when the water warms up. You also can't out swim them for they swim by jet like propulsion at 4 knotts. I've personnally been stung for the first time this summer by a few baby portuguese man-o-war's ( probably about 4-5 inches in diameter) and had to go to the doctor for an injection. It felt like I had been electrocuted when stung and had muscle spasms and cramping for about 10hrs afterward and the Box jelly fish is said to be 500 times more venomous and painful! Here are a few pictures of what one looks like and what they can do. I wanted to go one day and see the Great Barrier Reef in person, but I think I will settle seeing it on tv now and I'm quite fine swimming around our own reefs here!