Sea wasp (cubomedusa) belongs to the class of Cubomedus viridis. This multicellular is a rare and very dangerous marine animal for humans . In nature, there are a huge number of different types of jellyfish, but this sea ​​monster is considered the most poisonous on the planet. It stings like a well-known wasp, but instead of one sting, the cubomedusa has one hundred times more of them. Their poison is death for all living organisms. Over the past century, these predators have killed about a hundred people. If the diver falls into the flock of sea wasps, then he has practically no chance to return to shore.
Who is called the sea wasp?
In the depths of the sea hides a large number of dangerous predatory creatures, many of them have not yet been studied. Who is called the sea wasp, who swims in an invisible shadow and injects a lethal dose of poison? This monster - cubomedusa - is almost impossible to see in the water; people call it “invisible death”.
This creature, seeing it, cannot be called a monster. These are relatively small jellyfish shaped like a cube or a bottle. The body is about 5 cm in diameter, although rare individuals are found in which the dome reaches 20-25 cm. It is better not to meet such ones, since this is a real death machine. By the way, cubomedusa was so named precisely because of the cube-shaped structure of the dome.
The tentacles of the sea wasp deserve special attention, because they are the terrible weapon of the jellyfish. In length, they reach one and a half meters, their number can reach 60. If you fall into such a deadly "hug", then a fatal end is inevitable. Glands are hidden in these long terrible lashes, so they produce poison that is stronger than snake.
Scientists cannot solve another feature of the sea wasp - why does a jellyfish that does not have a brain need eyes, can it see the world around it? Surprisingly, the cubomedusa really has eyes - as many as twenty-four. These organs are divided into 4 groups of 6 eyes each. With such a quantity, should this creature see it?
Where do sea wasps live in nature?
It would seem that jellyfish can live in any sea water. All the water expanses of the oceans and seas are subject to these miracles-people with tentacles, but this is a false statement. A sea wasp, for example, lives only in Australia. A favorite place for marine predators is the northern coast, in those waters there is a relatively shallow depth and a large accumulation of corals.
Poison Monster Lifestyle
As mentioned earlier, the sea wasp is an active dangerous predator. When hunting, the cubomedusa is completely motionless, but as soon as the prey touches the tentacles invisible in water, it immediately receives a large dose of poison. Moreover, the jellyfish stings several times in a row so that the victim quickly dies. The poison is very strong, it acts on the nervous system, on the cardiovascular system and affects the skin.
Sea wasps feed on shrimp, small crabs and small fish. The predator pulls stinged prey with tentacles to the dome and sucks inward, where it calmly digests.
Cubo-jellyfish hunt in the coastal zone, but keep far from the coast. During a storm or high tide, when the sea is excited and strong waves roll ashore, these poisonous creatures often go straight to the beaches where people swim.
Breeding
Sea wasp goes through the breeding stages the same as in other jellyfish. First, predators lay eggs, from them appear larvae that attach to the bottom and then turn into polyps. Polyps reproduce by budding.
After a certain time, the body of the jellyfish breaks away from the polyp and floats away to create its black deeds in the sea. Without a jellyfish, an abandoned polyp instantly dies.
Can a sea wasp sting?
As mentioned earlier, cubomedusa poses a great threat to human life. Although we will not make her such a bloodthirsty predator, she attacks only what can serve as food. People are not included in this list; when meeting with them, the sea wasp prefers to swim away. A sea ​​monster can sting a person, but only by chance, when it does not have time to dodge the collision. Most often, divers are at risk.
After receiving several doses of the strongest poison, the body instantly begins to respond. The skin turns red, stung, it feels unbearable pain, from which there is no salvation, the burn site is terribly swollen. Dizziness, fainting, intense heat - these consequences of a meeting with a sea wasp may well result in respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest. Death can occur in the first minutes after a collision with deadly tentacles, and may occur in a day. It all depends on the amount of poison injected.
This "invisible death" swims very well, can quickly turn and maneuver between corals and algae, moves under water relatively quickly - up to 6 meters per minute. It is possible to consider transparent predators only in shallow water, a warm sandy bottom is the best place for their existence and reproduction. In the daytime, sea wasps stay at the bottom, with the first twilight float to the surface.
To protect vacationers on the beaches from jellyfish, lifeguards put protective nets and warning signs along the coast, but unfortunately this does not guarantee people complete safety in places where sea wasps are the most poisonous among jellyfish.