Chirodectes is a rare type of box jellyfish that was originally found in the Great Barrier Reef. It is so rare that it has only been captured on camera twice, in 1997 and 2022.
The first and only specimen was filmed and captured in 1997 and studied for a few hours due to its delicate nature. The original 1997 video is on DVD but the screen grabs were published in 2005 in Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.
Very little is known about it but it is assumed that Chirodectes is venomous as other box jellyfish are but there have been no recorded cases of human stings. The 1997 specimen was ~3.9 ft/ 1.2 m in length with the bulb being ~6 in/ 160mm wide.
In 2022, a Chirodectes was filmed off the coast of Papua New Guinea by diver Dorian Borcherds and it is speculated that this may be the same species as the one from 1997. This is only the second known documentation of this rare type of jellyfish.
Sources
Cornelius, Paul F. S.; Fenner, Peter J.; Hore, Russell (31 December 2005). “Chiropsalmus maculatus sp. nov., a cubomedusa from the Great Barrier Reef”. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 51 (2): 399–405. ISSN 0079-8835 – via the Biodiversity Heritage Library
The Guardian (2022, August 4). Magnificent jellyfish found off coast of Papua New Guinea sparks interest among researchers. From https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/04/magnificent-jellyfish-found-off-coast-of-papua-new-guinea-sparks-interest-among-researchers
