The box jellyfish doesn’t look like much. Its body is shaped like a clear cube about the size of a basketball, and its tentacles dangle down up to 10 feet. But it carries some of the most powerful venom in the sea, which is why it is sometimes called one of the deadliest animals in the ocean.
Each tentacle is covered with tiny stinging cells. When something brushes against them, they fire microscopic darts of venom in less than a second. A serious sting can cause terrible pain and put a person in danger very quickly, which is why lifeguards in northern Australia hang special vinegar bottles near the beach to help victims.
Strangely, box jellyfish have 24 eyes arranged in clusters around their bell-shaped body. Some of those eyes can see colors and shapes, even though the jellyfish has no brain to make sense of pictures. Scientists still don’t fully understand how a creature with no brain can navigate so well, but it does.
