Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Mediterranean on Jellyfish Alert


That is the actual headline.

Some Spanish beaches have been closed, but Sicily and North Africa are also reported to be badly affected.

Researchers say at least 30,000 people have been stung since summer began.

Marine biologists blame hot dry weather for bringing jellyfish closer to the shore, and say overfishing may be increasing jellyfish numbers.

A recent survey by the Oceana environmental group found concentrations of jellyfish of more than 10 per square metre in some areas off the Spanish coast.


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People in the UK are posting thier jellyfish experiences here.

That article mentions that the jellyfish are good for the leatherback turtles.

"We are more of a threat to jellyfish and other marine life than they are to us," said Mr Richardson."

"We have had 300 reports of hundreds of thousands of jellyfish... "We're really interested in where they occur and an idea of numbers - in ones or twos, or washing up in their millions."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I heard on the radio the other day that the Man of War jellyfish will use their tenticles to pull small children into the water... :)