A jellyfish sting is often seen as a simple, painful hazard of a day at the beach. In reality, it is a fascinating and highly efficient example of biological defense. A sting is not an attack in the way we might think; it is a rapid biochemical reaction, where the venom’s complex proteins immediately begin to interact with and damage skin cells, triggering the body’s pain and immune responses. To understand this painful reaction, we must first examine the jellyfish’s elegant and highly effective anatomical toolkit.
