Scientists Identify 4th Chironex Species in Singapore as Thai Sea Wasp Extends Range
Updated
Updated · Oceanographic Magazine · May 15
Scientists Identify 4th Chironex Species in Singapore as Thai Sea Wasp Extends Range
6 articles · Updated · Oceanographic Magazine · May 15
Researchers from Tohoku University and the National University of Singapore identified Chironex blakangmati off Sentosa Island, adding a fourth known species to a genus whose stings can kill within minutes.
Genetic testing and anatomical study showed the jellyfish had been mistaken for Chironex yamaguchii; the decisive difference was the absence of pointed canals in its perradial lappets.
The same expedition also recorded Chironex indrasaksajiae in Singapore for the first time, extending the Thai sea wasp's known range and highlighting gaps in Southeast Asia's box-jellyfish mapping.
The findings, published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, give researchers a new identification framework and underscore public-safety concerns because Chironex are near-invisible, venomous active hunters.
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