Chironex fleckeri

Southcott, 1956 · species

image placeholder — illustration coming later

Animalia/Cnidaria/Cubozoa/Chirodropida/Chirodropidae/Chironex

At a glance

Occurrence records293

Data sources9

Biological traits4

DNA specimens6

eDNA detections6

Sources9 archives

Databases and archives Chironex fleckeri's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation17 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility150 records↗

OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System143 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics6 specimens↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗

GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗

On this page5 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources4 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF · OBIS293 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 0 countries6 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD6 specimens

01Narrative

Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the Australian box jelly, and nicknamed the sea wasp, is a species of extremely venomous box jellyfish found in coastal waters from northern Australia and New Guinea to Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.Fenner, P. J. (2000). Chironex fleckeri – the north Australian box-jellyfish. marine-medic.com It has been described as "the most lethal jellyfish in the world", with at least 64 known deaths in Australia from 1884 to 2021. Notorious for its sting, C. fleckeri has tentacles up to 3 m long covered with millions of cnidocytes which, on contact, release microscopic darts delivering an extremely powerful venom. Being stung commonly results in excruciating pain, and if the sting area is significant, an untreated victim may die in two to five minutes.Biology, 7ed. Campell & Reece The amount of venom in one animal is said to be enough to kill 60 adult humans.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesSeaLifeBase

Size & morphology1

Body length30 cm

Habitat & environment2

Habitat saltwateryes

Habitat zonepelagic

Other traits1

Vulnerability20

05DNA & barcoding6 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Chironex fleckeri has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens6

BINs1

Marker genes2

eDNA detections6

Countries1

Marker genes sequenced

★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.

★COI-5P18S-5P

animal barcoderibosomal

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type293 records

Wild obs. + sensor141

Museum / vouchered151

Other1

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO464 km²

Depth

0–200 m sunlit71

200–1000 m twilight0

1–4 km midnight0

>4 km abyssal0

median 23 m · max 46.5 m · 71 records with depth

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy99% within 1 km

≤100 m 12≤1 km 121≤10 km 1

134 georeferenced · 7 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor141

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy51% within 1 km

≤100 m 31≤1 km 14≤10 km 43

88 georeferenced · 63 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence151

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions2 of 10 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record	29
DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record	14
DEWlocation not on record	12
Natick, US	11
Sydney, AU	8
CASlocation not on record	2
Australian Institute of Marine Sciencelocation not on record	2
Museums Victorialocation not on record	1
Western Australian Museumlocation not on record	1
Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallerylocation not on record	1

10 institutions · 81 of 151 vouchered records shown

09Environmental DNA6 detections

Where the DNA of Chironex fleckeri was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found6

Studies independent surveys1

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 6 detections have coordinates

Open the map0 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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