Masses Of Mauve Stinger Jellyfish Spotted In Irish Sea - Beach Towns, Fish Farms Brace For Fallout

SCIENTISTS fear Welsh beaches are in imminent danger of invasion by glow-in-the-dark jellyfish with painful stings. There are fears that the predicted swarms of the creatures – large groups of which have been known to discolour large areas of water because of their sheer number – could have serious repercussions for both the Welsh tourist industry and salmon farming in this country.

Just a few months ago, a swarm containing billions of luminescent mauve stinger jellyfish – known as Pelagia noctiluca – wiped out £1m worth of salmon at fish farms in Glenarm Bay, off Country Antrim, Northern Ireland. Witnesses said the jellyfish invasion on the evening of November 21 last year was like something out of a science fiction film as the water around the salmon cages began giving off a purple glow. Then, 150,000 young salmon died in the North Salmon-owned fish farm as they were stung by the tentacles of the jellyfish, so small they floated through the mesh of the cages.

The huge jellyfish shoal was said to have been around 10 miles square and many feet deep. Mediterranean beaches have been closed for days at a time because of mauve stinger “blooms” in the past few years. And in August 2006, a total of 14,000 people were treated for stings on beaches in Spain after billions of the creatures floated towards crowded sands.

Last November’s infestation was the first major incident affecting British waters but some scientists suspect global warming could be behind the appearance of massed jellyfish flotillas now spotted in the Irish Sea.

EDIT

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/01/18/salmon-deaths-spark-fear-of-stinging-jellyfish-swarm-91466-20364230/

Canfield ocean, here we come.
Right back to the Permian.
Open up them big clathrates,
Canfield ocean, here we come!

le sigh....

Canfield ocean, you're the best
Cranking out that H2S
Really making quite a mess
Canfield ocean, here we come!!!!!!

when mutual annihilation and nuclear winter were all we had to worry about. Our current prospects make all that seem almost trivial by comparison.

by reducing the number of predators that normally feed on jellyfish and keep their population under control.

Sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally through by-catches, fisherman deplete tuna, swordfish, moonfish, triggerfish and certain kinds of sea turtles - especially the leatherback turtle, a major jellyfish predator.

made it 6000 years ago.