Jellyfish: A Gelatinous Invasion (fish killers)

[ensho]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1931659,00.html?xid=thepage_newsletter


-snip-

The pictures, sent by a biologist in the northern Italian town of Lerici in July, marked the first time the species Mnemiopsis leidyi, a thumb-size jellyfish known as the sea walnut, had been documented in the western Mediterranean Sea. Native to the Atlantic coast of the U.S., Mnemiopsis was introduced to the Black Sea in the 1980s — most likely from the ballast water of oil tankers — and played an instrumental role in the collapse of the region's fisheries. "Now the question is, Will it do in the Mediterranean the same thing it did in the Black Sea?" Boero says. "It's harmless for , but it can be deadly for the fish."

The ominous discovery — the result of Boero's request that all Italians report their jellyfish sightings — came during a series of unusually prolific jellyfish seasons 
 over the past five years. This summer, jellyfish outbreaks forced numerous resorts along the Mediterranean coast to shut their beaches. In Corsica and Tuscany, several swimmers were wounded by Portuguese man-of-wars, jellyfish-like creatures with a potentially fatal sting. In Tunisia, a swarm of jellyfish engulfed a fish farm, killing the year's production of sea bass and sea bream.

Off the coast of Israel, where tropical species have moved in through the Suez Canal, jellyfish floated in swarms more than 100 km long and 2 km wide. Blooms of Mnemiopsis, first documented off Israel last winter, clogged the filters of a desalination plant that supplies coastal communities with 100 million liters of water a day. At the height of the outbreak, water production at the plant dropped by more than a third as desperate workers tried to clear the filters.

The reasons for the recent explosion in jellyfish numbers are many. The problems in the Black Sea occurred because Mnemiopsis had been introduced to an ecosystem that had already been severely overfished. In a healthy ecosystem, small fish keep the jellyfish population in check by eating their young. But when the fish population plummets, the tables are turned. By preying on the eggs and larvae of the few surviving fish, the jellyfish prevent them from replenishing their numbers and quickly take their place. "We're shifting from a fish to a jellyfish ocean," says Boero. "We're removing most of the fish, and nature doesn't like a vacuum."

But overfishing is not solely to blame. The nutrients from fertilizer runoff and sewage suck oxygen from the lower layers of the ocean, creating an environment in which fish struggle but jellyfish thrive. Since 2000, there's been such an increase in numbers of Australian jellyfish in the oxygen-depleted waters of the Gulf of Mexico that shrimpers have been forced to hang up their nets during the swarm season in the summer. In the nutrient-rich waters off the coast of Japan, where jellyfish can grow to the size of refrigerators, a nuclear power plant was forced to lower production in 2006 when a mass of the creatures clogged its cooling system.
-snip-
----------------------------------


the human race is committing suicide.

this morning I had to listen to W.J. as guests and callers told us that there was no such thing as climate change. so we had nothing to worry about.

re: reality TV shows: one thing I learned from watching Wife Swap and Trading Spouses was that it was men who fought CHANGE violently and had to be backed into a corner by the traded wife before they could make their way to changing.

the wives were open minded to considering CHANGE.

this seems to be happening with Climate Change. many men are violently claiming there is no such thing. quick! back them into corners so we can save our home, the earth.

[ensho]

1. this is just not happening on the other side of the world from us

they are eating the fish we plan to eat too.

I would think DUers could grasp that fact?

[Karenina]

2. She may not be mortally wounded, in terms of supporting life

but She will surely require a long recovery from her homo sapiens infection. Time is on Her side. The jellyfish are like the mucous expelled during a nasty cold. I recall a Native American prediction that She will shake us off like fleas. She is doing so simply by recycling our input into Her system back to us. Turnabout is fair play, eh?

Another native bit of info was the idea that oil was Mother Earth's blood and should be respected. Since the Industrial Revolution such "foolish" ideas have become fads and tourist attractions as Corporate Oil exploited its richness. Today a recent penetration is hemorrhaging between Australia and Timor. The FOURTH attempt to staunch the bleeding has failed. Do check out the sat pix and the ecological significance of the region...

[cliffordu]

9. The fleas line was a punch line to a George Carlin monologue.....

[cliffordu]

10. duplicate post....

[lonestarnot]

3. Poor sea life turning to sea death.

:cry:

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. +2

[The Straight Story]

4. Well the climate has always been changing

So I think folks believe in climate change, just not that the cause is humans.

[ensho]

7. well folks are wrong - we humans are causing it

and we humans better stop it post haste

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Lots of jellyfish alerts in the Environment/Energy Forum ...

most connected to GW.

[malaise]

6. This is proof that there is no selective

globalization. Between globalization and climate change, species from a variety of places are creating chaos in new places.