Photographers stun scientists with slow-motion video of jellyfish sting: ‘I’ve got goose
Because jellyfish stings happen so quickly — on the order of milliseconds, or about the time it takes you to blink — they’re challenging to study in the lab. But with the help of his super-slow motion camera, YouTuber SmarterEveryDay was able to catch a lightening-fast jellyfish sting in action in toxicologist Jamie Seymour’s lab at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, by touching two leads from a nine volt battery to its tentacle.
On average, it took the anemone about 11 milliseconds to fire its venom-loaded nematocysts in response to the trigger and about 1/3 of a second, or 333 milliseconds, for the venom to eject after they triggered the nematocysts. That’s a significant delay from the mere 11 milliseconds it took to fire up those needles.
The venom of a box jellyfish is one of the deadliest in the world. It attacks the heart, skin cells, and the nervous system and can be so painful that people sometimes die of shock or a heart attack before they can swim to safety.
PHOTOS: SmarterEveryDay/YouTube
Fri, 24 Jul 2015 10:30:29
