Introduction
Jellyfish envenomation has become a serious health
problem on coastal beaches throughout the world, but
especially subtropical and tropical Atlantic, Pacific,
Asian, and Australian coasts where the most notorious
jellyfish species prevail.1 Jellyfish are marine
invertebrates belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, which
is subdivided into 5 classes (Table 1): 1) Hydrozoa,
which are not considered true jellyfish and include the
Physalia species, which are siphonophores; the 2 major
Physalias are Physalia physalis, known as the
Portuguese man-of-war, and the Physalia utriculus,
known as the Blue bottle;2 2) Scyphozoa, the true
jellyfish, include Cyanea capillata, known as the lion’s
mane jellyfish, and Pelagia noctiluca;
2 3) Cubozoa,
similar in form to the true jellyfish but more boxlike; 2
different orders are recognized: the large multitentacled
chirodropids, which are among the most dangerous
marine creatures and include Chironex fleckeri, known
as the Australian box jellyfish, and the smaller 4-
tentacled carybdeids, an example of which is Carukia
barnesi (also known as an Irukandji jellyfish), which
causes Irukandji syndrome;2 4) Anthozoa are unique
among cnidarians in that they do not have a medusa
stage in their development; examples are soft corals and
sea anemones; and 5) Staurozoa were conventionally