Monday, August 4, 2008

Now it's jellyfish

Saipan is lucky jellyfish are just a nuisance instead of the growing problem found elsewhere.

There are more of them and they're showing up in new places, according to the New York Times.

Scientists are blaming it on the usual suspects: warming oceans, pollution and overfishing.

"While no good global database exists on jellyfish populations, the increasing reports from around the world have convinced scientists that the trend is real, serious and climate-related, although they caution that jellyfish populations in any one place undergo year-to-year variation," according to the Times.

A report is due in the fall from the National Science Foundation listing problem areas as Australia, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, the Black Sea, Namibia, Britain, the Mediterranean, the Sea of Japan and the Yangtze estuary.

Jellyfish have only become a problem in Hawaii in the last 20 years. Still, the state is luckier than most victims. Their visitors are like a tour group: arriving on schedule the ninth or tenth day after a full moon.

5 comments:

Angelo Villagomez said...

Is that good for Leatherbacks? More food?

Anonymous said...

well, not exactly a little problem...
Nomura's jellyfish

now that's a lot of sushi ;)

search google... giant jellyfish china.

monsanto would be proud

KAP said...

Leatherbacks have plastic bags.

Ok, they're probably happy but tuna, swordfish, moonfish, triggerfish...

Oxygen depletion, fertilizers, overfishing, warming; your guess is as good as theirs.

From the search: A collection of jellyfish is known as a smack.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

Smack Daddy.

Smack 'n Crank (New drive -in in East LA)

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My take is none of the above reasons for the increase in jellyfish populations is true. I have it from a reliable source that jellyfish have recently learned to fuck, and like it very much. Thus the increase.

KAP said...

If you followed the Nomura link it's when they die. Pretty kinky.