Now extremely depressed and masquerading as his brother Ben, he plans to end his life and donate his organs (7 pounds’ worth) and his home to seven worthy recipients. He gives his bone marrow, a kidney, a lobe of his liver and a lobe of his lung while still alive.

The title is a reference to William Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice”, in which the merchant, Antonio, agrees to give the moneylender, Shylock, a pound of his flesh if his debt is not paid on time. Seven is the number of “debts” in the plot.

Ben Thomas is a man on a mission. Giving vital parts of his body to those desperately in need of a donor. Ben meets Emily Posa, a beautiful young woman at risk from a deadly heart condition. As Ben falls for Emily and begins to open up to her, it becomes clear there is something dark in his past that compels him to commit these apparent random acts of kindness.

Can you survive a box jellyfish sting? Box jellyfish stings can be fatal because of the creature’s barbed tentacles containing venom. Not all stings will cause death. But there isn’t a conclusive number of deaths from box jellyfish each year because some believe not all fatalities are reported.

Box jellyfish, named for their body shape, have tentacles covered in biological booby traps known as nematocysts – tiny darts loaded with poison. People and animals unfortunate enough to be injected with this poison may experience paralysis, cardiac arrest, and even death, all within a few minutes of being stung.

the box jellyfish

In fact, the 43 known species of box jellyfish cause more death and serious injuries than sharks, sea snakes, and stingrays combined.

It has numerous venomous microscopic nematocysts which deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish, and has been known to occasionally kill humans. Although it superficially resembles a jellyfish, the Portuguese man o’ war is in fact a siphonophore.

To date, there’s only one species that has been called ‘biologically immortal’: the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.

Turritopsis dohrnii medusa

Most aren’t lethal, but a few are: some species, including the box jellyfish (most commonly found in and near Australia), can deliver a sting strong enough to kill a human in just a few minutes. If you’re in an area where it is known that jellyfish like to hang out, skip the swim altogether.

Yes, jellyfish are very important animals in the ocean. We should definitely respect and not harm them. They are food for a number of marine animals such as large fish and turtles. They can also protect the small fish from being eaten by predators with their stinging cells.

But those known as box jellyfish, for the shape of their bell, or body, are a breed apart. Also called cubozoans, they’re voracious hunters, able to chase prey by moving forward—as well as up and down—at speeds of up to two knots.

No proteins. Not much else but water. Still, the moon jelly (Aurelia aurita) are eaten by predators in the sea; fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and even corals and turtles. Now a new study may explain why these predators bother to eat the gelatinous creatures.

Urine can actually aggravate the jellyfish’s stingers into releasing more venom. This cure is, indeed, fiction. Jellyfish, those bulbous Medusa-like creatures, float near many of the world’s beaches.