Jellyfish: A Ubiquitous Creature?

Jellyfish are causing mayhem as pollution, climate change see numbers boom

"Their propensity to breed fast and prolifically means jellyfish can disrupt ocean ecosystems in a flash.
And their effects aren't contained to the sea.
In places like Sweden, Israel, the US and the Philippines, power plants have been affected by blooms of jellyfish.
"So many jellyfish were swept into the power system … that it shut down the power system through much of this one island in the Philippines," Ms Berwald says.

Jellyfish have also caused plants to shut down in Japan.
"One jellyfish scientist from Japan told me that the first threat to the electric system in Japan is earthquakes, but the second is jellyfish," Berwald says.
"We are dealing with a ubiquitous creature.""

Smells like Jellyfish?

"Some scientists think jellyfish numbers are increasing as the climate changes — the creatures reproduce well in warmer waters.
Jellyfish also fare better than many other sea creatures in polluted waters, as they don't need much oxygen.
Berwald says that can give them the upper hand over predators.
"They can sort of slip into polluted waters, into low oxygen waters, and hide from predation there better than a fish that has a higher oxygen demand," she says."

Rhapsody In Bluebottles: Gershwin?

A message in a plastic bottle?!

What can jellyfish tell us?
"According to the World Wildlife Fund, most of the waste we produce on land eventually reaches the oceans — everything from plastic bags to pesticides.

Berwald says the lesson from jellyfish is that we need to care for our oceans, and work to tackle pollution.
"Because we are terrestrial creatures we haven't really thought about the health of the oceans," she says.
"We've considered it as this place that is so big we can never really damage it that badly. The message from jellyfish is that we are.
"It's quite important that we start doing things more responsibly when it comes to the oceans.""