Nature & Environment

Cube-shaped creature with 24 eyes discovered in a pond in Hong Kong

By T.K. Randall
April 22, 2023 ·  3 comments

The new species is a type of box jellyfish. Image Credit: YouTube / hongkongbaptistu Some creatures sound so 'out there' that it's hard to believe that they could ever be real animals, yet this particular example - which was recently discovered hiding in the brackish waters of a nature reserve shrimp pond - is very much the genuine article.

With a see-through, box-shaped body and an array of two-dozen eyes, this remarkable creature was found by researchers during three consecutive annual visits to the site.It has since been formally named Tripedalia maipoensis - a species of box jellyfish.

"We named the new species Tripedalia maipoensis to reflect its type locality - where the new species was first found," said Professor Qiu Jianwen.

"Although it is currently known only in Mai Po, we believe that this species is also distributed in the adjacent waters of the Pearl River Estuary as the gei wais are connected to the estuary through a tidal channel."


Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (3)

Tags: Hong Kong, Jellyfish