Like all science, naming a new species is a dynamic and exciting process. Imagine Vicki Carr, a tourist swimming in the beautiful Caribbean waters of Bonaire when a surprisingly fast jellyfish piqued her curiosity. She just happened to have a video camera with her and documented this chance encounter. She probably had no idea at the time that her video would lead to the discovery of a new species and a international contest to name the animal. (It is not uncommon that a scientific investigation begins in unexpected ways.)

Luckily Vicki shared her video, and it captured the attention of Bud Gillian, science teacher and major jellyfish enthusiast. Upon seeing it, he asked a very logical question: What species of jellyfish is this? Allen Collins, a professional systematist, and Bastian Bentlage, a graduate student doing box jellyfish research also noticed photos on the web, and contacted Bud. Through ongoing communication and collaboration, the team suspected that this animal may be new to science, thereby generating an exciting testable hypothesis.

Over the past eight years, Bud has been able to collect accounts from about three-dozen snorkelers, who shared their chance observations (some with pictures) of what became known as the Bonaire Banded Box Jellyfish. These observations helped the team understand the animal's Caribbean distribution, behavior, and morphology (body parts and structures), all critical elements to the species description that must be done before a new name can be assigned. In addition, they learned of three human stings with relatively serious health consequences, something of great societal and economic interest.

But these observations were not enough. Collection of one or more specimens was necessary to formally document the new species, so Allen helped Bud apply for and win a collecting permit from Bonaire. Though it took a couple of years before the animal was encountered by someone who knew of the team's interest in documenting the species, persistence paid off and a single specimen was collected by Johan van Blerk. It was shipped and donated to the Smithsonian.

At the Smithsonian, the specimen was placed in a jar with preservative and staff assigned it a unique number. This type specimen, as it will be called, is archived at the Smithsonian so it can be used for future study. Allen and Basti began the process of observing and documenting the morphology of the specimen by using some pretty fancy microscopes, looking at small structures trying to determine which are unique and which are shared with other cubozoans. Luckily, Tara Lynn joined the group as an intern. She focused on documenting the stinging nematocysts to compare them with those of closely related box jellies. At the same time, the awesome technician Rob Wilson was tasked with extracting DNA from a bit of tentacle of the specimen, and amplifying and sequencing molecular markers. This provided molecular data useful for making hypotheses about who is most closely related to BBBJ and where the animal fits in the overall cubozoan tree of life.

Another important part of the process was studying the literature published about closely related species. Basti devoted himself to this task. He was perfect for the job since much of the literature is written in his native language, German.

Together, the entire team has worked to put everything they have learned about the BBBJ into a single paper. This manuscript was sent to an editor of the scientific journal Zootaxa, who identified other jellyfish scientists to review the team's conclusions to ensure scientific integrity. The team will need to incorporate suggestions from these referees and the editor before the paper can be published to make the new species name (that one of you reading this will provide) official.

But, the process does not end there. Biological information about the BBBJ will be shared through the Encyclopedia of Life and other resources so people around the world can learn about the BBBJ. Some of this information will spark curiosity in other researchers or citizen scientists who will then begin their own investigations. Moreover, the name and description themselves can be thought of as hypotheses, and future researchers can refine what we have found in light of new information that may arise.

Here is what the scientists had to say about the process:

Allen

: "It is surprising how much time it takes to document a species! The process is relatively straight forward in this case (because the species is so obviously new), but it involves a lot of work."

Basti

: "That the species was new seemed very obvious from pictures and videos that had been sent to us and posted on the internet; the coloration of the animal is just so distinct from every other box jelly. The real fun part was to finally receive a specimen and start figuring out which other species is its closest relative and what it shares with the banded box jelly."

Did you know that discovering new species relies on:

• Creativity
• Logic
• Technology (sometimes simple, sometimes complex)
• Problem Solving Skills
• Adventure
• Good writing skills

Want to learn more about how science is done? Visit the Understanding Science Website.