Hobbies And Interests
Cubozoa
Jellyfish have bell-shaped bodies that are filled with a gel-like substance. This bell-shaped body structure is called a medusae. Jellyfish also have tentacles that extend from underneath the bell, around the bell's margin. The jellyfish's mouth is situated at the center of its underbody. Jellyfish have colorless to lightly-tinted, translucent skin that allows visibility of their colorful internal structures. Box jellyfish got their name because they have a box or cube-like appearance when looking from the top of their medusae. Box jellyfish usually grow up to 10 feet in length, 10 inches across and 4.4 lbs.
Like all jellyfish, box jellyfish have stinging tentacles that are very painful to humans. However, box jellyfish species such as Chironex fleckeri, also called "sea wasps," render highly venomous stings that are fatal if left untreated.
Taxonomy
Even though members of Cubozoa -- box jellyfish -- are jellyfish, members of another Cnidarian class, Scyphozoa, are considered "true jellyfish" by zoological authorities. For this reason, cubozoans were traditionally categorized as a subgroup within Scyphozoa. However, after discovering that the life cycle of cubozoans is distinctly different than scyphozoan jellyfish, cubozoans were reassigned as their own cnidarian class.
Habitat and Diet
Box jellyfish primarily inhabit tropical and semitropical environments, with some being found in temperate waters. They tend to prefer to sandy surfaces/substrates. Box jellyfish are carnivorous predators who mainly consume crustaceans and fish
Mating
Mating activity varies among species and appears to occur annually. In some species, male and female box jelly engage in courtship. During courtship, the male and female entangle their tentacles. As the couple swims, the male brings his mouth close to the female's and deposits a sperm packet called a spermatophore, which is ingested by the female. In other species, mating does not occur. Instead, males release sperm into the water -- sometimes in group/spawning aggregations, and females take up the sperm from the water. However, regardless of the method, box jellyfish eggs are fertilized internally by the female.
Life Cycle
Some species of box jellyfish release their fertilized eggs into the water where they develop into larva called planulae. In other species, the eggs develop into planulae while inside of the female and are released later into the water as planulae.
The box jellyfish planulae settle on a substrate and develop into polyps. In zoology, polyps are animal forms that consist of sac-like bodies that have tentacles encircling the mouth opening. During the polyp stage, there are some box jellyfish species that engage in asexual reproduction by "budding off" into other polyps. It is in part because box jellyfish/cubozoan polyps do not resemble scyphozoan jellyfish polyps that box jellyfish were recategorized in their own class.
Within a few months, the polyps transform into juvenile box jellyfish. The average life span of a box jellyfish is less than one year.