{"id":622751,"date":"2026-04-22T03:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622751\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:44:11","slug":"deadly-box-jellyfish-swarm-recorded-off-pilbara-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/622751\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly box jellyfish swarm recorded off Pilbara coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of box jellyfish have been spotted off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, thrilling scientists in their quest to name and classify a rare local variety.<\/p>\n

The box jellyfish label describes multiple species of the invertebrate, grouped together for their rounded, cube-shaped bodies and lengthy venomous tentacles.<\/p>\n

They include the Australian box jelly, or chironex fleckeri, a creature that is native to northern waters and one of the most poisonous on the planet.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The WA box jellyfish is thought to be a close, but distinct relative of the world’s most venomous sea creature. (Supplied: Brett\u00a0Lobwein)<\/p>\n

This reputation sprang to mind as Dampier port worker Ben Walkington watched almost 100 ghostly shapes congregate beside the jetty he was on, 1,530 kilometres north of Perth.<\/p>\n

“It’s not ideal,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Walkington filmed the swarm from the Parker Point iron ore loading terminal. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)<\/p>\n

He said he had never seen one in the harbour before.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen (box jellyfish) growing up, but it’s the first time in a long time I’ve seen them.”<\/p>\n

‘Probably new to science’<\/p>\n

The reaction of marine biologist Lisa-ann Gershwin was far more enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

“This one we’ve thought for a while is probably new to science,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not yet named and classified, but this is the one that I’ve been trying to find.”\"Woman<\/p>\n

Lisa-ann Gershwin is one of Australia’s leading jellyfish taxonomists. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n

Dr Gershwin said the animal was likely different from the box jellyfish found in the Northern Territory and Queensland, which have caused the deaths of about 80 people since records began.<\/p>\n

“We generally consider the WA box jelly to not be, and I’m putting that in arm-waving quotes there, probably not be as dangerous,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t trust it, so don’t go and give it a cuddle.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

The only other time Dr Gershwin could recall such a “swarm” in WA was more than a decade ago, during an offshore survey<\/a> in the Kimberley region.<\/p>\n

Leading that expedition was CSIRO senior principal research scientist John Keesing.<\/p>\n

“They do occur as far south as Exmouth, but to get reports of large numbers of them is unusual,” Dr Keesing told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“We’d be very interested to see whether this population persists around Dampier for some time.”<\/p>\n

Classification gap a ‘public health issue’<\/p>\n

Dr Keesing said it was “quite an endeavour” to scientifically distinguish one jellyfish from another, involving the collection of several specimens and DNA samples.<\/p>\n

The challenges were compounded by a dwindling number of researchers with the knowledge and means to embark on the work.<\/p>\n

“In Australia, we have a declining number of marine taxonomists,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So the pool of people who have the expertise to describe a new taxonomy of all sorts of animals in the marine environment is quite limited.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Keesing said learning more about WA’s box jellyfish could help the public better understand the risks. (Supplied: Belinda Rule)<\/p>\n

But the effort, he argued, was still worthwhile.<\/p>\n

“It’s a public health issue for sure when it comes to jellyfish.<\/p>\n

“More generally, if we don’t have the capacity … to describe new species, then we don’t fully understand our biodiversity.<\/p>\n

“There are lots of reasons, economic and social, why we would need to be able to do that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of box jellyfish have been spotted off Western Australia’s Pilbara coast, thrilling scientists in their quest to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,301820,301821,301824,45542,301822,45544,16802,128,301823,301825,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-622751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-box-jellyfish","11":"tag-chironex-fleckei","12":"tag-chironex-fleckeri","13":"tag-irukandji","14":"tag-john-keesing","15":"tag-lisa-ann-gershwin","16":"tag-pilbara-news","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-stinger-suits","19":"tag-wa-box-jelly","20":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}