Fewer fish leads to jellyfish explosion

[jpak]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13806028/

Nature abhors a vacuum. Wipe out one creature, and another will move in. Mammals leveraged this principle when the reign of dinosaurs ended.

Now in a smaller way, jellyfish are taking over.

In a region off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, heavy fishing in recent decades has depleted fish stocks while leading to increased numbers of jellyfish.

<snip>

In fact the jellyfish are so numerous in the study area that they now represent more biomass than all the fish combined. Their numbers, ironically, are beginning to "significantly interfere with fishing operations," the researchers report in the July 12 issue of the journal Current Biology.

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[Joanne98]

1. Wait until they attack people swimming. EEKKKK

[Eugene]

2. Like this?

(The Boston Globe)

Mass. feeling the sting of a Portuguese man-of-war invasion

By Phil McKenna and Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Globe Correspondents | July 4, 2006

NANTUCKET -- Poisonous Portuguese men-of-war, in an unusually large invasion,
stung at least 14 people in Massachusetts during the last week, prompting
periodic swimming bans on Cape and Islands beaches during one of the summer's
busiest holiday weeks.

<snip>

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/04/mass_feeling_the_sting_of_a_portuguese_man_of_war_invasion

[Chulanowa]

4. It's not that jellyfish attack

It's that people are dumb enough to keep putting their faces into jellyfish tentacles.

[Double T]

3. 'Mans' destruction of this planet and its creatures will.....

soon (in geologic time) result in his own demise; what an overall unsuccessful species.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. "Jellyfish explosion" ? Eeewww. nt

[skids]

10. Damn, I had my hopes set on seeing exploding jellies. n/t

[NYC]

6. L'Annee de la Meduse.

Weird French movie. Must be about 15 years old.




INJURY MECHANISM Long blue, threadlike tentacles.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS Stinging, burning, redness, swelling of lymph nodes. Long welt lines. Severe reactions: difficulty with breathing and cardiac arrest.

IMMEDIATE FIRST AID ADVICE:

1. Rinse the area liberally with seawater or fresh water to remove any tentacles stuck to the skin. This can be from a spray bottle or in a beach shower. Do not apply vinegar. A study shows that vinegar in these stings sometimes makes the sting worse. (Portuguese man-of-wars belong to a different family than box jellyfish and therefore must be treated separately.)

2. For severe pain, try applying heat or cold, whichever feels better to the victim.

3. Few Portuguese man-of-war stings in Hawai`i cause life-threatening reactions, but this is always a possibility. Some people are extremely sensitive to the venom; a few have allergic reactions. Consider even the slightest breathing difficulty, or altered level of consciousness, a medical emergency. Call for help and use automatic epinephrine injector if available.

http://www.aloha.com/~lifeguards/portugue.html

Another picture of the Portuguese Man of War, also called the bluebottle:



More interesting information:

Portuguese men-of-war cannot propel themselves and move at the whim of winds and currents by a sac full of gas that floats on the surface and acts like a sail. That's how the creatures got their name: They look like a naval man-of-war ship under sail. Although they are sometimes called jellyfish, a man-of-war is a colony of four kinds of individual organisms that rely on each other to survive.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/04/mass_feeling_the_sting_of_a_portuguese_man_of_war_invasion/?page=2

[kestrel91316]

7. The REALLY deadly ones are those nasty box jellies down in Oz.

[NYC]

9. It said that. Not the regular kind of box jellyfish,

a different box jellyfish, also called something like sea wasp.

I saw a picture of it, and it was not a very noticeable jellyfish. I think I read it at the Hawaiian link.


Box Jellyfish

I can't find the sea wasp. It must have been a different site, and I don't remember where I was.

[cosmicdot]

11. here's a picture

http://www.scuba-doc.com/boxjel.html

[NYC]

12. Looks harmless, doesn't it?

Looks like a lightbulb, just thicker.

I wonder how many people die of jellyfish stings every year?

[bloom]

8. The really weird ones are the ones that are bigger than people.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5311834


It does sound like jellyfish are one species of creatures that are benefiting from global warming and the way we are treating the planet.

A group of jellyfish is often called a "smack." Many species of jellyfish are also capable of congregating into large swarms or "blooms" consisting of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. The formation of these blooms is a complex process that depends on ocean currents, nutrients, temperature and oxygen content. Jellyfish will sometimes mass breed during blooms, thereby causing large booms in jellyfish population and reportedly raising major ecological concern for a possible jellyfish outbreak.

According to Claudia Mills of the University of Washington, the frequency of these blooms may be attributed to mankind's impact on marine life; she says that the breeding jellyfish may merely be taking the place of already overfished creatures. Jellyfish researcher Marsh Youngbluth further clarifies that "jellyfish feed on the same kinds of prey as adult and young fishes, so if fish are removed from the equation, jellyfish are likely to move in."

Increased nutrient in the water, ascribed to agricultural runoff, has also been cited as an antecedent to the recent proliferation of jellyfish numbers: scientist Monty Graham says, "ecosystems in which there are high levels of nutrient ... provide nourishment for the small organisms on which jellyfish feed. In waters where there is eutrophication, low oxygen levels often result, favoring jellyfish as they thrive in less oxygen-rich water than fish can tolerate. The fact that jellyfish are increasing is a symptom of something happening in the ecosystem."

Areas already majorly affected by jellyfish blooms include the northern Gulf of Mexico, where "moon jellies have formed a kind of gelatinous net that stretches from end to end across the gulf," and the Adriatic Sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish

Though they can be hurt by global warming in some cases:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5022300


I think they are pretty cool looking.


This site is tracking injuries - worldwide:

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/dec2/fenner/fenner.html