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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat You Need to Know About the Coming Jellyfish Apocalypse
Source: Mother Jones
Millions of golden jellyfish (Mastigias papua etpisonii) swim inside an isolated marine lake in Palau.
Ethan Daniels/Shutterstock
More than 50 million Americans swim in the oceans every year (there are actual government surveys of such things). So if your summer plans involves stripping down and bathing in the sun and salt water of your dreams, read on, intrepid beach-goer. There's something gooey and stingy that's loving warm waters every bit as much as you are (maybe even more), turning those dreams...to nightmares: jellyfish.
Are there more jellyfish now than ever before?
In some places, yes. One recent University of British Columbia study concluded that "jellyfish populations appear to be increasing in the majority of the world's coastal ecosystems and seas," and blamed human activity for these blooms. The areas most affected are the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, says Lucas Brotz, a PhD student and jellyfish expert at University of British Columbia's Fisheries Center, and co-author of the report.
Last October, a swarm of jellyfish plugged cooling pipes for one of the world's largest nuclear reactors.
The influx of jellyfish can cause big problems. In October last year, a gelatinous swarm plugged cooling pipes for one of the world's largest nuclear reactors, on the Baltic coast in Sweden, shutting it down. A swarm hobbled a coal-fired power plant near Hadera on the Israeli coast in 2011. Millions of bulging, translucent creatures descended on popular Mediterranean beaches in April 2013, freaking out the tourists. Jellyfish expert Lisa-ann Gershwin writes in her 2013 book Stung! that jellyfish caused the collapse of the $350 million Black Sea fishing industry in the 1990s. In 2007, a plague wiped out a salmon farm off Northern Ireland.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/06/watch-out-summer-swimmers-here-come-jellyfish
FSogol
(45,476 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Some years ago I saw a documentary about that. AFAIR the jellyfish is put into brine where the cells lose water. The jellyfish solidifies and shrinks from spherical to a disc-shape. The prepared jellyfish in the documentary was a grey, firm disc with 2-3 inches diameter and ~0.2 inches thickness.
The guy responsible for preparing them tested them with a tender bite-test on a disc, whether the jellyfish has achieved the desired level of crunchiness.
aikoaiko
(34,169 posts)malaise
(268,930 posts)A giant barrel jellyfish is seen swimming in an estuary near St Mawes in Cornwall. Marine awareness officer Matt Slater and his dog swim around the jellyfish to capture this footage of the 'gentle giant'. The jellyfish is said to weigh as much as 20kg and measure around one metre in diameter
abakan
(1,819 posts)Thanks, malaise.
Javaman
(62,517 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,365 posts)That's PB & KYJF
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)glinda
(14,807 posts)Am sure there is a profit somewhere. They should do that for Asian Carp and a few other invasive species as well.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)FSogol
(45,476 posts)They'd be cleaned out of the ocean in months.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)That should do it.
FSogol
(45,476 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)FSogol
(45,476 posts)If you have a jellyfish sting erection lasting more than 4 hours please call your doctor, since a serious....
bemildred
(90,061 posts)This is why I'm careful what I say on the internet, you can give people ideas.
abakan
(1,819 posts)Bosonic
(3,746 posts)<clears throat>
I don't like jellyfish, theyre not a fish, they're just a blob.
They dont have eyes, fins or scales like a cod.
They float about blind, stinging people in the seas,
And no one eats jellyfish with chips and mushy peas.
Get rid of 'em!