Between massive swarms and habitat invasions, jellyfish are changing ecosystems, stinging beachgoers, and causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage. Using high-tech underwater gadgets, scientists are racing to understand one of the most common, mysterious—and destructive—sea creatures
Posted 06.04.2008 at 4:12 pm
17 Comments
And ballast water isn’t the only way ships transport species. Some jellies hitch rides attached to ship bottoms, a practice called “hull-fouling.” A recent Nature Conservancy report found ballast waters and hull-fouling responsible for 69 percent of non-native marine species worldwide.
Once jellies get to a new habitat, “they’re very good at sliding in and taking advantage of excess food,” says Monty Graham, an assistant professor of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama whose team sighted the massive spotted jellyfish bloom in 2000. Excess food, according to Graham and other researchers, is often a result of overharvesting of the fish that feed on the same resources. Eutrophication, a process in which nutrient-rich runoff from agriculture, sewage-treatment plants and other sources boosts algae growth, also contributes. The algal blooms, as they’re called, reduce the amount of available oxygen in the water, thus killing off competitors like fish. Jellyfish, on the other hand, can thrive in this oxygen-deprived environment. The dwindling numbers of predators, especially the critically endangered leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), is another factor.
Jellyfish must attach to surfaces during the flower-like polyp stage at the beginning of their life. (The familiar mushroom shape occurs later, in the medusa stage.) Increased waterfront construction creates more surfaces that the polyps can attach to and may play a part in the growing presence of jellies near shores, according to Shin-ichi Uye, a scientist at Hiroshima University who has studied Nomura’s jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai). In the past five years, hoardes of these giant, native-Chinese jellies have invaded the Sea of Japan. Uye suspects that waterfront construction in China is, in part, fueling the population boom. Fishermen are feeling the sting, as they inadvertently haul in thousands of the jellies, which each weigh up to 440 pounds and span six feet in diameter. The nomuras slime or crush the intended catch while destroying nets, and in 2003, Japanese fishermen lost $20 million in damages.
Mooning: Moon jellies, which don’t sting humans, are believed to be native to Europe, but have spread throughout the globe. Mark Conlin/seapics.com & T. Brakemeir/Corbis
Eutrophication, overfishing, and a warming climate may also be to blame, according to Uye. Rising sea temperatures may improve conditions for the creatures. Over the past 50 years, the top 1,000 feet of the oceans has warmed an average of half a degree Fahrenheit. And for at least 13 species of jellyfish, according to Purcell, warmer waters are associated with larger populations. Shorter cold seasons also appear to be contributing. In recent years, mauve stingers have stuck around Mediterranean shores later than usual.
Although global warming is suspected by some, scientists are hesitant to make a direct connection for now. There simply isn’t enough research out there. “Lots of evidence exists showing that in some areas, jellyfish are on the rise, but in some places, they’re actually on the decline,” says Kevin Raskoff, a marine-biology instructor at Monterey Peninsula College. “There is a good possibility that changes to the food chain that are direct responses to climate change might have very real consequences for the jellies, but we are far from finding direct links.”
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from Winnipeg, Manitoba
Well lets assume this is creature visually remains identical to its ancestors, and that It probably evolved from one of the more ancient periods of the past, like when some of the first multi-celled organisms manifested.This took part after the cellular advance of plants, which evolved to Flesh Life. Also why the world was a forest, because plants are smart in terms of having the largest genetic mass over the Earth. Mabye the one Plant that is poisonous to this creature or even its predator is exint.
Look to something synthetic and biodegradable to control there population, humanely.
I would agree with Sir DarkFx humane treatment is prefered but this is human kind were talking about here. They were here first but there hurting our prime vacation spots so they must be eliminated... right? Well it seems that environmental changes are causing the planets animals to react... who would have thought that would happen. Woud it be possible to imagine there preditor and or poisonous counterpart has not been found in this astoundingly large ocean?
~Taio~
Dear readers,
Any creature that poots where it eats is a foul creature and must be destroyed at all costs.
Positively,
Boka
Well boka thats a positively inteligent way to think of it but in this case im going to have to ask... did you wash your hands the last time you "pooted".... well in that case get in the line up destruction awaits.
~Taio~
Of course another species will take over. This is the result of reckless overfishing.
I'm sorry I had to sign up and comment just once and this is all I have to say.....NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AT THE END OF THESE ARTICLES, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM PUTTING IN YOUR 2 CENTS BECAUSE I HAVE A NASTY HABIT OF READING THEM THINKING IT WILL BE AN INTELLIGENT VIEWPOINT COVERING WHAT I JUST READ. YOU PARTICULARLY DARKFX YOU ARE THE KING OF THE NERDS, YOU HAVE AN ANSWER TO EVERYTHING SO DO THE WORLD A SERVICE AND FIX ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS. IT'S OBVIOUS YOUR SMART ENOUGH TO DO SO. Please don't respond to this comment in an attempt to defend your own dignity, instead think about what I said and don't, from your computer chair in your one bedroom apartment or parent's basement, indulge in your own sense of egotism and self-worth. Just take a deep breath and try not to say stupid things anymore, better yet keep your comments to yourself unless you really can change the world which I doubt you can because those able to do so don't spend there time commenting on jellyfish articles acting like a know-it-all. Good-bye and good luck trying to bite your tongue from now on.
from Jacksonville, Florida
KND 123
What is wrong with you?! You have other problems that you need to address having nothing to do with the quality of Darkfx's text. Lock yourself in a room with some self help books until you are able to say "I really like myself and have no need to belittle others to stoke my fragile self-esteem"
To paraphrase Morissey "....it's so easy to laugh/ so easy to hate/ it takes strength to be gentle and kind..."
On jellies...strictures on bilge water and trawling will go a long way in correcting the imbalance that has allowed them to flourish.
i agree with dark, they do need to be controlled of. you can agrue that we should kill them for our own needs, because of fishing, but if we let this go un touched, we may just have a jellyfish ocean. i mean the temperature is on the rise, people are over fsihing, i mean somthing is going to happen and its easy to see. fish are just going to die form them. maybe we should find a way to fish them and turn them into a food, then there populations will go down and well have food. but also with a control on global warming too other wise its not worth it because it will keep getting hotter and hotter
I both agree and disagree with bits and pieces of all statements previously made.
I used to work in a Marine Lab in Hawaii and I will have to agree that something does need to be done with the differing jellyfish population booms. One of the largest roles that lead to their over-abundance now is because humans have altered the ecological balance of the ocean.
With the devastation we caused on populations such as the leather back and green sea turtles that naturally prey on jellyfish, it's a no-brainer that the jellyfish population would increase just based off of that. Throw in the whales and their decreased numbers into the equation -- both baleen and toothed whales -- and the jellyfish food supply skyrockets as well.
This also doesn't even touch upon what the article included with the inadvertent transport and relocation of non-indigenous jellyfish species and pollution of the oceans causing problems we can only guess at.
Exactly WHAT needs to be done I will not comment on. My only advice is that we understand a little more about this jelly of a predicament before we actually try and do something like introducing non-indigenous jellyfish predators without taking into full consideration the impact it would have on other native species. I do agree that something does need to be done, whether it is to more strictly enforce poaching laws on animals such as sea turtles, and waiting for nature's balance to slowly take over, or to more invasively try and play God by killing off whatever we deem necessary -- something needs to be done to correct our mistakes before it gets worse.
from Dublin, Ohio
(Darkfx) "Well lets assume this is creature visually remains identical to its ancestors, and that It probably evolved from one of the more ancient periods of the past, like when some of the first multi-celled organisms manifested.This took part after the cellular advance of plants, which evolved to Flesh Life. Also why the world was a forest, because plants are smart in terms of having the largest genetic mass over the Earth. Mabye the one Plant that is poisonous to this creature or even its predator is exint."
Sorry but u are wrong. The only plants that were around when jellyfish first came about was algae, there were no land plants. and the idea that a plant turned into a flesh animal is just down right dumb. Don't comment on what you don't know.
sorry again
from Dublin, Ohio
(Darkfx) "Well lets assume this is creature visually remains identical to its ancestors, and that It probably evolved from one of the more ancient periods of the past, like when some of the first multi-celled organisms manifested.This took part after the cellular advance of plants, which evolved to Flesh Life. Also why the world was a forest, because plants are smart in terms of having the largest genetic mass over the Earth. Mabye the one Plant that is poisonous to this creature or even its predator is exint."
Sorry but u are wrong. The only plants that were around when jellyfish first came about was algae, there were no land plants. and the idea that a plant turned into a flesh animal is just down right dumb. Don't comment on what you don't know.
sorry again
Okay me and DarkFX got totally ripped and debated how earth started and then he went on Popsci and commented. It made perfect sense at the time.
from Danielson, CT
Its interesting to see that something we have never had a use for has come to bite us in the @ss. We have over-mined everything we wanted or needed to the point we will one day no longer have it. What will we be left with? Everything that we deem unnecessary or dangerous. What a future to look forward to. I'm sure through the stress of uncertainty we will find a use for it all, but a beautiful prospect nevertheless. As every creature coexisting on this planet, we all deserve what we get. I think we should get special torturous treatment, though.
Hey, Betterfuture4uandme:
The idea that jellyfish are ancient and super-primitive life forms is out of date. According to research conducted in the last decade, jellyfish aren't so simple. Once thought to be pre-Cambrian, they are now held to be part of the explosion (540 million yrs ago).
Ref: NYT, 2005
Wow, that's intense! It reminds me of that one level in Super Mario Bros 3 when all of the jellyfish swarm. I suppose this could actually turn into a pretty big problem, if not dealt with.
- Stacy, (http://www.myfda.org/)
from Winnipeg, Manitoba
Betterfuture4uandme <
Plants Life was Created in Water. Quite Possibly because of Hydrogen and Organic Matter in Clouds, in Space.
In the Ocean after Freshwater perhaps. Plants became aware of land eventually, obviously. Why else is all Cellular with such basic compounds so Similar. Life Communicating with chemical signals plants and humans alike. Let alone the simple fact that all life has to many similar traits to not be related. For instance, Eyes and Skin Mouth, Digestive Tract... Like a Worm.
www.darkfx.cjb.net
Jellyfish are definitely more advanced than we think. They are incredible successful. They should be our masters.
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