Jellyfish Invasion of UK waters!!

British swimmers and holiday makers are being warned against the dangers of swimming around the coast this summer because of the possibility of running into some serious swarms of jellyfish!

Britain's seas could be turned into 'jellyfish soup' this summer, scientists have warned British swimmers. Families that have made their own cut backs and decided to holiday in the U.K. this summer have been warned to keep a close eye on the jellyfish invasion and report all sightings immediately. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said: 'The number of jellyfish living in the U.K.'s coastal waters is on the rise. "There is strong evidence that jellyfish numbers are increasing around the world, including U.K. seas, and these increases have been linked to factors such as pollution, over-fishing and possibly climate change."

Source

Take a look at some of the beast that will be swimming with you if you chose to take a dip!

Eight dangers lurking around our shores

*Barrel or rootmouth jellyfish

Rhizostoma octopus
The biggest jellyfish commonly found in British waters, up to a metre in diameter. Robust, with a spherical, solid, rubbery and largely white bell, fringed with purple. The bell lacks tentacles but eight thick, frilled arms hang down from the manubrium (the mouth and arms, underside and centre of bell). Harmless.


*Blue jellyfish

Cyanea lamarckii
Up to 30cm. Similar shape to the lion's mane, but smaller with a blue bell through which radial lines can be seen. Mild sting.


*Moon jellyfish

Aurelia aurita
Up to 40cm in diameter. Transparent, umbrella-shaped bell edged with short, hair-like tentacles. Recognised by the four distinct pale purple gonad rings in the bell. Manubrium bears four short, frilled arms. Mild sting.

*Compass jellyfish

Chrysaora hysoscella
Typically up to 30cm. Colour variable, but usually has pale umbrella-shaped bell with diagnostic brownish V-shaped markings, 32 marginal lobes and 24 long, thin tentacles. Four thick, frilled arms hang from the manubrium. Mild sting.


*Mauve stinger

Pelagia noctiluca
Up to 10cm. Has a deep bell with pink or mauve warts, 16 marginal lobes and eight marginal, hair-like tentacles. Manubrium bears four longer frilled arms with tiny pink spots. More serious sting.

*Lion's mane jellyfish

Cyanea capillata
Large, usually 50cm but can reach two metres in diameter. Large, reddish brown, umbrella-shaped bell with mass of long, thin hair-like tentacles as well as four short, thick, frilled and folded arms. Very virulent sting, capable of causing cardiac arrest.


*By-the-wind-sailor

Velella velella
Not a true jellyfish, but a floating hydranth. Up to 10cm long and blue-purple in colour. Upright sail and chitinous float are diagnostic, with a mass of small tentacles surrounding the mouth on the underside. Found in swarms. Harmless to humans.


*Portuguese Man-of-War

Physalia physalia
Not a true jellyfish, but a floating colony of hydrozoans. Oval-shaped, transparent float with crest. Blue-purple, with many hanging fishing polyps below that may be tens of metres long. Extremely dangerous. Rare in the UK but if found in numbers they should be reported

source


One thing I hate to accidently walk on in bare feet on a nice sandy beach........A damn Jellfish!

Ha! You'd have to be damn brave to swim at our coast (northwest) even without the jellyfish!

reply to post by zerozero00


OMG!

I was at the coast two weeks ago and actually stumbled upon a jellyfish so I took a picture!





It turns out to be Cyanea capillata or the Lions mane!

reply to post by Threegirls


My image is from around your manor!
It was taken at Ravenglass near Seascale!
Maybe I was too close to Selafield for comfort!

We have been having lots of jellyfish swarms in the U.S. lately. Just saw this, it kind of fits in this thread.

Ocean warming causes jellyfish to swarm northern waters

Link

Maybe the water is really getting warmer or maybe it is just this year. This is the first year that I remember seeing several stories in one month about jellyfish.

Only a few weeks ago there was this thread about jellyfish in Israel too.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Seems it's happening on quite a large scale.

reply to post by PacificBlue


This is crazy!
While searching for more info about what is going on I found a scary piece about the World jellyfish population and what this could mean to our marine ecosystem!!

Explosion in jellyfish numbers may lead to ecological disaster, warn scientists

Global warming has long been blamed for the huge rise in the world's jellyfish population. But new research suggests that they, in turn, may be worsening the problem by producing more carbon than the oceans can cope with.

Research led by Rob Condon of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in the US focuses on the effect that the increasing numbers of jellyfish are having on marine bateria, which play an important role by recycling nutrients created by decaying organisms back into the food web. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that while bacteria are capable of absorbing the constituent carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other chemicals given off by most fish when they die, they cannot do the same with jellyfish. The invertebrates, populating the seas in ever-increasing numbers, break down into biomass with especially high levels of carbon, which the bacteria cannot absorb well. Instead of using it to grow, the bacteria breathe it out as carbon dioxide. This means more of the gas is released into the atmosphere.

This does not look good!

I, for one, welcome our new Jellyfish overlords

I used to live on the coast and every now and then you'd get masses of Jellyfish washed up on shore. This is going back thirty years so I wouldn't take this as evidence of "global warming" it's a natural phenomena.

reply to post by yellowbeard


Hehe!

You want lots and lots of these all over Cleethorpes or Mablethorpe??






This is a resize of the above image obviously!...But my point is these things can cause cardic arrest!

Also I noticed children playing around the beach and in the water right where this picture was taken!
I didn't know until today what type of jellyfish this was ........And I can garantee the Mummy and Children didn't know what they where either!

Lion's mane jellyfish

Cyanea capillata
Large, usually 50cm but can reach two metres in diameter. Large, reddish brown, umbrella-shaped bell with mass of long, thin hair-like tentacles as well as four short, thick, frilled and folded arms. Very virulent sting, capable of causing cardiac arrest.

reply to post by NuclearPaul


Many thanks NP!
I just noticed your link to the other ATS thread related to this topic!
It was good to read


I have been reading a lot on the interweb regarding this happening and it has been watched by scientists for years!

2008 science paper


I even read a good article about all this from 2002 but can't find it now!

Bearing in mind I didn't have a clue that the jellyfish I encountered could KILL


Now I do see a big problem here!.....I see a lot of uninformed families getting stung this year WORLDWIDE!

reply to post by zerozero00


It does not look good, as it seems that jellyfish are flourishing, and other marine life is not. They will crowd out many other species, especially marine life that needs more oxygen. I think the reason for this is both the warmer water, and the lack of oxygen in certain areas of the ocean. What is interesting is that the jellyfish that are showing up in swarms in places that they were never seen before, like jellyfish from Africa stinging people in the Gulf Coast.

In 2010, Smithsonian Magazine suggested the jellyfish might be on their way to dominating the biomass, or organisms in the oceans. The article pointed out that the creatures are reproducing in astonishing numbers and showing up where they had not been seen before.

Link

And they are dangerous, I completely agree. Some people are not used to them, and many people have been getting stung.

Jellyfish Swarm Atackes 2000 beach-goers over Holiday Weekend-Florida

Jellyfish Swarm Cocoa Beach-400 injured

I keep seeing stories like this and RSOE now has a jellyfish icon, do not remember that or maybe it is just used more, because I see it all the time on RSOE and I never used to. The worst thing is that they have been causing problems at nuclear plants and power plants, wonder if there is something that is attracting them to these places?