Chironex fleckeri

I saw the movie Seven Pounds today. Way to go, Will! He pulled off another great one. A little perplexing, perhaps, but he was great in it.

I come away from this movie with one side effect: I am now terrified of box jellyfish. I cannot tell you why, because it would completely ruin the movie, which you should go see.

For a few weeks now, there have been rumors of box jellyfish being along the Penang coastline. I've seen my fair share of smacks (that's what a group of jellyfish is called - which is, coincidentally, pretty much the only piece of information I can recall from my 3 years as a biology major at SPU) at the beach over the past few months, but I have no way of knowing what kind they are. I'm no sea jelly expert. But whether they are Chironex fleckeri or not doesn't really matter to me; I'll stay out of the water no matter what. They must flourish in the Island's polluted waters and gorge themselves on the EColi. Yummy yummy.

This is just one of many jellyfish I found on the beach 2 years ago. Chironex fleckeri, perhaps???????



Interesting facts: Box jellyfish have the most deadly venom of all the animal kingdom. "You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and drown before reaching the shore." "Box jellies are not 'dim-witted ocean drifters' but 'fast, active predators that hunt and kill with incredible speed and brutality.'"

Krista and I went sea kayaking on Sunday. We saw jelly-fish and only casually and nonchalantly steered around it. Thank God we waited until today to this movie, otherwise it would have given us quite a fright.

Perhaps we should invest in some 'stinger suits'. Maybe the Malays have known this all along when they started marketing the Muslim-inspired swim-wear: