Surf Life Saving NT are currently conducting a box jellyfish research project in collaboration with Surf Life Saving Australia, Surf Life Saving Queensland, the University of Hawai'i, James Cook University, Charles Darwin University, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Currently, SLS follow the stinger treatment protocol as stated by the Australian Resuscitation Council guidelines. We are hoping to test this effectively and to provide evidence to support or alter current practices in place to safeguard beachgoers and member of Surf Life Saving in high-risk area. Ultimately, this research will provide clear evidence around the best first aid response on the beach of box jellyfish stings to improve community outcomes, member safety and service delivery.
Please come and join us at Darwin Surf Life Saving Club on 22nd January 2025 for an informal, interactive evening where you can hear about the project and the science from some of the team, including the box jelly experts Angel Yanagihara (University of Hawai’i) and Avril Underwood (JCU).
Angel Yanagihara (Project Lead)
Angel Yanagihara, PhD, is a world-renowned biochemist, a Fulbright Specialist, and the Director, Pacific Cnidaria Research Lab and researcher at the Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology in the Pacific Biosciences Research Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her work on jellyfish and their stings and venom was the subject of a NOVA documentary.
She was a technical advisor on Diana Nyad's fourth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida as well as her fifth successful attempt across the Straits of Florida. Dr. Yanagihara has patents and publications covering hemolysin, nematocysts, ultrastructure, discharge, pain receptors and venom, box jelly cardiotoxins, phylogeny of cubozoans, population dynamics, biodiversity of cnidarian venoms, and physalia fluorescent proteins, one of which being her box jellyfish skin ointment called Sting No More.
Avril Underwood (Box jelly ecologist)
Avril is a PhD Candidate at James Cook University, Cairns. She has almost 20 years of experience with Australian cubozoan jellyfish from hand raising baby Irukandjis to genetic work to leading box jellyfish collection trips in Darwin, WA and Cape York.
During her research she has been fortunate to work not only with some of the world's leading experts on cubozoans but also to assist students and visiting researchers with their own projects from venom toxicity to the function of their 24 eye structures.
She has co-authored papers on cubozoan life history, range extension across Australia and basic venom ecology. Her current interests are in cubozoan ecology and genetics- is there one big of Chironex fleckeri across the top of Australia or are their distinct populations and why? And just how many species of box jellyfish are there around Australia?