The 24-eyed animal is Tripedalia maipoensis, a tiny box jellyfish formally described from samples collected at Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong. The sampling took place in summers 2020–2022, and the species description was published on 20 March 2023—not discovered during water-quality testing in 2024.
What is the 24-eyed creature?
Tripedalia maipoensis is a species of box jellyfish in the family Tripedaliidae. Yanan Sun and coauthors formally described it in a 2023 paper in Zoological Studies, making it a newly described species to science—not a creature first unearthed in 2024. The paper calls it the fourth described species in its family and the first family record in Chinese coastal waters. The formal species description provides the taxonomic account.
Where and when was it found?
The research team collected specimens from a brackish shrimp pond at Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong. A 2023 account by NDTV, reporting Hong Kong Baptist University research and quoting team leader Professor Jian-Wen Qiu, says samples were collected during the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022. Collection and formal description are different stages: these specimens were gathered before the scientific paper naming the species appeared in March 2023. NDTV’s account describes the sampling.
What does the jellyfish look like?
Hong Kong Baptist University research coverage reported an average body length of 1.5 cm and described the jellyfish as transparent and colourless. It has 24 eyes. That is a count, not evidence that every eye forms images or serves the same function. The coverage also describes three tentacles at each of the four corners of its bell, for 12 tentacles in total.
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How did scientists distinguish it from related species?
The formal description identifies a diagnostic combination of features: three pedalia at each bell corner, one tentacle attached to each pedalium, and a velarium with forked canals. A pedalium is a muscular structure at the bell margin from which a tentacle arises; the velarium is a structure around the bell opening that helps direct water flow as the animal swims.
The authors identify Tripedalia cystophora as the morphologically similar sister species. Their phylogenetic analyses used concatenated 16S, 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA genes. The paper reports 17.4% divergence in the 16S rRNA gene between the species—a genetic comparison, not a measure of abundance or population difference.
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Where else does it live?
The formally established record is Mai Po, Hong Kong. Professor Qiu said the species was then known only from Mai Po and that the team believed it might also occur in nearby Pearl River Estuary waters connected to the pond by a tidal channel. That is a proposed wider distribution, not a confirmed range.
What is known about its danger to people?
The cited species description and reporting do not establish this jellyfish’s venom potency or document human injuries caused by it. Its identification as a box jellyfish alone is not enough to conclude that this particular species is known to be dangerous to people.
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Why the 2024 water-quality headline is misleading
A 2025 article framed the animal as unearthed while scientists checked water quality in 2024. That framing does not match the documented timeline: samples were collected in 2020–2022, and the formal description appeared in 2023. The available account describes collection from a brackish shrimp pond; it does not establish that water-quality testing in 2024 led to the discovery.
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