Box jellyfish are a curious breed. For one thing, they have two dozen eyes, most of which have lenses, corneas and irises. In other words, they can see, whereas the anatomy of a regular jellyfish only allows them to distinguish light from dark.

Box jellyfish also have a more advanced nervous system then their cousins, allowing them to quickly avoid — and engage — objects.

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Also, unlike other species of jellyfish who wait for their meals, box jellyfish swim as they actively hunt their prey, which is mainly shrimp and small fish. They propel through the water at 4 miles per hour (6.4 kilometers per hour) by opening and shutting their bell-shaped heads, like an umbrella in a rainstorm.

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What should you do if experience a box jellyfish sting? Yanagihara studied the most common remedies, such as removing tentacles, rinsing the bite with vinegar or applying ice packs. She and her colleagues found that those and other common remedies made the sting even worse. She says that the best way to treat a box jellyfish sting is to quickly apply a venom-inhibitor cream she helped create — Sting No More — and seek immediate emergency assistance.