Filmmaker's big secret
THIS is one big, bad jellyfish.
Now for the first time, super-size irukandji Morbakka fenneri's mug shot has been made public.
Until today, the rare image has been locked in Port Douglas filmmaker and diver Ben Cropp's extensive underwater movie and photo archive.
"I thought there's no photo, no one knows what it looks like," Mr Cropp told The Cairns Post.
"I thought it's about time all that came out, along with a photograph, so people are aware. They're very uncommon."
Until recently, the 20cm jelly was believed to be an Atlantic tamoya.
Reclassified as a giant member of the irukandji family late last year, the monster invertebrate was snared at Port Douglas 25 years ago.
"They were right next to my wharf where I live in Port Douglas; what you call the sugar wharf," Mr Cropp recalled.
"There were two specimens, one smaller and one large.
"I saw them swimming and caught them.
"I was doing a film on box jellyfish at that stage and I was picking up lots of them. But this one was obviously very different."
Dr Lisa Gershwin, the stinger scientist who reclassified the jelly as an irukandji using 20 specimens collected between Sydney and Port Douglas, said Mr Cropp's image was "spectacular".
Share this article
Jelly time: Port Douglas fisherman and filmmaker Ben Cropp took this photograph of the Morbakka fenneri giant irukandji 25 years ago and is finally making the image public.
New Jetstar flights between Cairns and Osaka
THE re-introduction of Jetstar's four weekly direct services to Osaka in Japan and a doubling of flights to Melbourne from April 1 next year are the first significant announcements today by the airline as the result of a new agreement with Cairns Airport.
Kate earns National Pride Medal
INSPIRING young leader and cancer survivor Kate Smith could hardly believe she won a national Pride of Australia medal last night.
Escapee back in custody
BREAKING NEWS: Police have found a man who escaped from police custody at Ravenshoe on Sunday night.
Woman watched boyfriend bash, strip tourist
THE girlfriend of a man accused of raping and attempting to rape two foreign tourists at a Cairns caravan park says she watched him bash and strip one of them then chase after her.
