Can jelly really kill?!? (Freshwater Jellyfish)

Feeding off a microscopic animal called plankton, these spineless, brainless, boneless, sightless, water filled jellyfish swim or 'drift' across every ocean of the world, and even some freshwater lakes. The largest jellyfish has a bell (the morphing structure of the jellyfish) that can reach 8 feet across and tentacles that extend over half the length of a football field (that's exceeding fifty yards)! When a prey comes into contact with the jellyfish, their tentacles wrap, and stick to the edible substance and paralyze it with a venomous poison. Ever wonder why they have sticky tentacles? The reason lies directly within the explanation of their poison in injection!

Each tentacle of the jellyfish is covered with what is called cnidocytes, each of which contain a tiny 'harpoon' that is ejected from the cnidocyte and into the surface of the prey. Just as instantly as one 'harpoon', or nematocyst is ejected from the tentacle, many other cells are triggered to do the same. Once the nematocyst is inside the prey, a toxin is released with the potency to stun but in most cases kill. The potency of the toxin varies from species to species, where there is a diverse array of jellyfish species. Known to man, are over 200 (two hundred) different species of jellyfish, in which the most dangerous is Australia's box jelly who's toxin is even more lethal or more potent then that of a cobra.

Now considering that fact, it can be quite frightening that we are comparing one of the most deadly of all venom found in snakes, and pretty much any natural venom for that matter, to that of a small marine animal, who is composed of 95% water, and is practically transparent! Humans will die within minutes of a cobra bite, assuming the venom is released! "So then since cobra bites can kill humans in little but few minutes, and some jellyfish have a more potent venom, would I die if I were 'stung' by a jellyfish?"

Well that really depends on what species the sting originated from... There is no such thing as a non-venomous jellyfish even tough there is other marine life resembling the jellyfish that carries no potent venom, there is no such thing as a non-hazardous jellyfish. Non-lethal on the other hand, there is such thing as non-lethal jellyfish, and as a matter of fact many of them are. People who have been stung by jellyfish have reported a pain ranging from a degree of comparability to a bee sting, to a degree of bee stings in their immensity, to unbearable pain, and then there is the actual death rate. I cannot confirm the validity of this statement but I have heard that there is an annual human fatality rate due to Australian box jellyfish, of 60 lives. I heard 20 lives due to shark attacks are taken annually...

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