[OANNES Foro] AUSTRALIA: Purple monsters may herald spike in jellyfish activity

[Mario Cabrejos]

Purple monsters may herald spike in jellyfish activity

by  <http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Michael+Slezak> Michael
Slezak

27 May 2014

 
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25629?cmpid=NLC%7CNSNS%7C2014-0529-GL
OBAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&#.U4ifw3JdUqM>
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25629?cmpid=NLC%7CNSNS%7C2014-0529-GLO
BAL&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&#.U4ifw3JdUqM

 

Could Australia have had schools of mysterious, technicolour purple
jellyfish swimming off its shores all along without anybody noticing? After
one such creature, previously unknown in Australia - and probably to science
- washed up on a Queensland coast last week, jellyfish scientist
<http://lisagershwin.com/about.htm> Lisa-ann Gershwinhas received a string
of reported sightings dating back to 2008.

 

With its metre-long arms and a huge purple bell, Gershwin from the CSIRO,
Australia's national research agency, in Brisbane, says she's never seen
anything like the specimen that washed up on Coolum beach on the Sunshine
Coast in Queensland on Wednesday morning.

Some features, including the arms covered in thousands of tiny
plankton-eating mouths, meant Gershwin could immediately determine it was a
member of the Thysanostoma genus. But those known to live around Australia
are tiny and beige.

 

"This is huge. And it's vivid technicolour purple," she says.

 <http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn25629/dn25629-1_1200.jpg>
Mysterious purple monsters are arriving on Australian beaches <i>(Image:
Jamie Smith, Coolum Beach Lifeguards)</i>

Mysterious purple monsters are arriving on Australian beaches

 (Image: Jamie Smith, Coolum Beach Lifeguards)

 


Where there's one


Gershwin has some reports in German from the 19th century, reporting large
specimens from the same genus found in the Red Sea and near the Philippines.
But she says the parts she has translated so far don't mention that the
creatures are purple, so she suspects this is a new species.

Where there's one jellyfish, there must be more. "Wouldn't that be
spectacular," says Gershwin. "Can you imagine anything more amazing than a
school of technicolour purple jellyfish with long oral arms."

	

Members of the public have now contacted her, reporting 10 sightings - four
with photos - of similar jellyfish on beaches going back to 2008. She says
the big question now is: are these locals that have been in Australian
waters all along, or are they just starting to move there from elsewhere? If
they're moving, or increasing in numbers, that could be a sign that the
ocean environment is changing.


Canary in the coal mine


Changes in jellyfish activity are an important
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3126-plague-of-giant-jellyfish-hits-j
apan.html> indicator of the state of the environment, with spikes possibly
caused by agricultural run-off,
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12235-jellyfish-swarms-threaten-medit
erranean-beach-bums.html> global warmingMovie Camera and over-fishing,
Gershwin says. "They're like the canary in the coal mine."

 

Moreover, spikes in jellyfish numbers can themselves worsen the environment
by
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jun/12/jellyfish-plankton-ocean
-acid> encouraging carbon dioxide release from the oceans and because the
jellyfish eat, and
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24354-lazy-jellyfish-use-vortex-power
-to-rule-the-waves.html> compete with, fish and larvae.

 

"We are certainly seeing a lot of jellyfish activity all around Australia,"
Gershwin says. "But whether that's a blip or a new normal we don't know yet
because it's only been a few years of intense jellyfish activity. But
believe me we're onto it."

 



---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com
------------ próxima parte ------------
Se ha borrado un adjunto en formato HTML...
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20140530/c23c77ff/attachment.html>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 11262 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20140530/c23c77ff/attachment.jpg>
------------ próxima parte ------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: no disponible
URL: <http://lista.oannes.org.pe/pipermail/oannes-oannes.org.pe/attachments/20140530/c23c77ff/attachment-0002.gif>