Millions of jellyfish invade nuclear reactors in Japan and Israel

By IBTimes Staff Reporter

From http://www.ibtimes.com/

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

A similar incident was also reported recently in Israel when millions of jellyfish clogged down the sea-water cooling system of the power plant.

Such massive invasions of the species have raised speculations and scientists are trying to figure out the reason behind such unusual growing trends.

"The several [power plant incidents] that happened recently aren't enough to indicate a global pattern. They certainly could be coincidental," LiveScience quoted Monty Graham, a jellyfish biologist and senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab off the Gulf Coast of Alabama stating.

Recent studies have found out that jellyfish blooming occurs mostly during the summer and spring months.
Check some amazing visuals of jellyfish infiltrations below:

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

Source: Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

Source: Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

Source: Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

Source: Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

A nuclear reactor in Japan was forced to shut down due to infiltration of enormous swarms of jellyfish near the power plant.

Source: Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

A worker from the Israel Electric Corp. looks as jellyfish fall from a filter into a container at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011.

Source: Reuters

A worker from the Israel Electric Corp. drops a jellyfish into a container at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011.

Source: Reuters

A worker from the Israel Electric Corp. puts on gloves as he walks in a lot covered with jellyfish at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011.

Source: Reuters

A worker from the Israel Electric Corp. stands next to a container filled with jellyfish at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011.

Source: Reuters

Jellyfish cover the floor in a lot at Israel Electric Corp.'s Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011.

Source: Reuters

Workers from the Israel Electric Corp. stand next to containers filled with jellyfish at Orot Rabin coal-fired power station on the Mediterranean coast near the central town of Hadera July 5, 2011. The power station uses seawater for cooling off purposes and has to filter out and dispose of tonnes of jellyfish that are sucked into its system daily.

Source: Reuters

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader

Gorgeous video explains why there’s no such thing as a jellyfish

from: http://io9.com/

Meredith Woerner — It's wrong to lump all the ocean's jelly-like creatures into one category "jellyfish." So this video from the wonderful The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute breaks down all the glorious varieties of these magical sea beasts.

From MBARI:

By all accounts, jellyfish are creatures that kill people, eat microbes, grow to tens of meters, filter phytoplankton, take over ecosystems, and live forever. Because of the immense diversity of gelatinous plankton, jelly-like creatures can individually have each of these properties. However this way of looking at them both overstates and underestimates their true diversity. Taxonomically, they are far more varied than a handful of exemplars that are used to represent jellyfish or especially the so-called "true" jellyfish. Ecologically, they are even more adaptable than one would expect by looking only at the conspicuous bloom forming families and species that draw most of the attention. In reality, the most abundant and diverse gelatinous groups in the ocean are not the ones that anyone ever sees.

Report Jellyfish sightings here!

Swimming with JELLYFISH -- LAKE, PALAU

from Sarosh Jacob on Vimeo.


JELLYFISH LAKE, PALAU from Sarosh Jacob on Vimeo.

Palau is a special place.

Film / Edit: Sarosh Jacob saroshjacob.com
Equipment: Canon 5D Mark II, Simga 15mm Fisheye Lens and Aquatica Housing
Music: Radiohead "Nude"

Update 5/24/11: I have a website up now you can see it here: saroshjacob.com
more to come soon!

Update 5/22/11: Special THANK YOU to Pamela Anderson who posted my video on her Facebook and Twitter accounts today!!!
facebook.com/​pamelaanderson


A little information on Jellyfish Lake…

Jellyfish Lake is located on Eli Malk island in the Republic of Palau. Twelve thousand years ago these jellyfish became trapped in a natural basin on the island when the ocean receded. With no predators amongst them for thousands of years, they evolved into a new species that lost most of their stinging ability as they no longer had to protect themselves. They are pretty much harmless to humans although some people with very sensitive skin may get a minor sting from them. If you are allergic to jellyfish you should wear a wetsuit or protective clothing.

These fascinating creatures survive by sharing a symbiotic relationship with algae that live inside of them. At night, the jellyfish go down to the depths of the lake where the algae feed on nutrients. During the day, the jellyfish come back to the surface and follow the sun across the lake in a massive migration. The algae convert the energy of the sun via photosynthesis into a sugar that feeds the jellyfish.

It is not possible to scuba dive in this lake because the nutrient rich layer at around 50 feet and below contains hydrogen sulphide which is highly toxic to humans. If a scuba diver was to swim in that layer, the toxins would enter the body through the skin and that exposure could be fatal. Snorkeling however, is perfectly safe and if you ever find yourself in Palau one day, you should make your way to this special place. The experience of swimming through millions of jellyfish is quite surreal and Palau is the only place in the world where you can do just that!

I hope you enjoy the video and thank you for watching.

How One Jellyfish Stung 100 People

AP – In this photo provided by New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation, a Lion's Mane jellyfish is …

Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Managing Editor

livescience.com

How can one jellyfish sting up to 100 people? With lots of stinger-equipped tentacles, the largest jellyfish in the world is apparently up to the job.

Reported Wednesday at Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, N.H., between 50 and 100 beachgoers were treated for jellyfish stings likely from a lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata). Though officials can't be certain one jellyfish stung all the people, it seems likely as that's the only giant they spotted nearby.

This species is typically found in the cooler regions of the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea and Baltic Sea. And they rarely show up on this beach. "I haven't seen anything like this in my life, said Brian Warburton, who has been with the New Hampshire State Parks department for six years.

All the action transpired in about 20 minutes, when Warburton and his colleagues administered first aid (vinegar treatment). "There wasn't time to sit and measure this thing. We just got rid of it," he told LiveScience. "Think about a glob of Jell-O you're trying to pick up with two hands," he said, explaining the need for a pitchfork to pick it up.

When the 40-pound (18-kilogram) jellyfish arrived near shore, it appeared to be dead. But even a dead animal or a detached tentacle can sting a person, according to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.

And the lion's mane isn't lacking in that arena.

The lion's mane jellyfish's sports a disk-shaped bell that can reach some 3.2 feet (1 meter) across, with its trailing thin tentacles extending more than 32 feet (10 m), according to the Australian Museum. Eight clusters of 150 tentacles each hang from the underside of its body.

Like other jellyfish, the lion's mane's tentacles are equipped with nematocysts, or capsules that contain a trigger and stinging structure. A single tentacle can be armed with hundreds or thousands of nematocysts, which get activated upon making contact with an object like a person's legs, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

When spread out, the tentacles of the lion's mane jellyfish form a net-like trap through which only the teensiest animals can pass. In fact, this tangle of tentacles is often difficult for swimmers to avoid, which can mean painful stings for many, according to the Australian Museum.

Warburton said he didn't think the stings were too bad, though perhaps they seemed painful for children who aren't used to getting stung.

• Original Story: How One Jellyfish Stung 100 People

'World's best job' man stung by tiny, lethal jellyfish

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

The Irukandji jellyfish is so miniscule it is almost invisible to the naked eye

The man who landed what was dubbed "the best job in the world" as the caretaker on a tropical island off Australia has been stung by a lethal jellyfish.

Briton Ben Southall, who beat 34,000 applicants to secure the position, was stung during his last week in the job.

The culprit was the peanut-sized Irukandji jellyfish, whose venomous sting can be lethal.

In his blog, which he keeps as part of his job, he describes the incident as "a little sting on the beach".

But it was his progressive symptoms of fever, headache, lower back pain, chest tightness and high blood pressure that led doctors to diagnose the sting.

"I thought I'd done particularly well at avoiding any contact with any of the dangerous critters that consider this part of the world their home," Mr Southall writes in the latest update to his online diary.

Stinger suit

"I've avoided being boxed by a kangaroo, nibbled by a shark and bitten by a spider or a snake - but then in my final few days on Hamilton Island I fell foul of a miniscule little creature known as an Irukandji," his blog continues.

I really should have been wearing a full stinger suit Ben Southall Caretaker of Hamilton Island

The jellyfish - which struck as he descended from a jet-ski - is virtually invisible to the naked eye and can be deadly - in 2002 two tourists died after being stung.

It is so small it can pass through the nets that protect popular swimming spots in Queensland from larger jellyfish.

But Mr Southall - who has fully recovered after a dose of antibiotics and rest - admitted that he had been inadequately dressed for the excursion.

"It's not something to be messed around with. I really should have been wearing a full stinger suit, as is recommended at all beaches here this time of year," he said.

Mr Southall, 34, a charity fundraiser from Hampshire had to undergo a gruelling selection process to get the A$150,000 ($134,000) role - including swimming, snorkelling and one-to-one interviews.

Dolphins play football with a JELLYFISH

By Daily Mail Reporter

Dolphins have been filmed playing an impromptu game of football... using a jellyfish as an improvised ball.

A team of marine biologists were astonished to see a dolphin swim under a jellyfish and with a quick flick of its tail shoot it out of the water.

The bottlenose dolphins were caught on video performing the strange activity off the Welsh coastline. One dolphin was able to flip the jellyfish six feet up in the air.

Enlarge

The dolphins swim underneath the jellyfish in Cardigan Bay and then flick them upwards with their tails

Scientists believe their game of flipball goes back hundreds of thousands of years.
But it may go some way to explaining why dolphins in captivity are so skilful with balls at sealife parks around the world.

Marine experts Jonathan Easter, 23, who saw the dolphins at play, said: 'One thing is for sure, they were having fun. There were floating blobs of jelly and the dolphins were flipping them about.

More...

• Can you twig this is a lizard? Play Spot the Gecko in our series of pictures
• Arctic Ocean 'will be ice-free within 20 years'

'They swim under the jellyfish, then at the right moment flick their tail up to give it a good kick.

'They were not always accurate but when they had a direct hit the jellyfish were literally kicked out of the water.

'We have been studying individual dolphins in Welsh waters for some time but we got more than we expected from this trip.

A dolphin positions itself underneath a jellyfish before unceremoniously scooping it up out of the sea

'These incredible images provide a privileged insight into the lives and behaviour of bottlenose dolphins.

'But this behaviour has never been seen before and it presents more questions than answers!'

But there is a sting in the tail - some of the Barrel jellyfish sadly died from being flipped.

The marine biologists were from the Countryside Council for Wales, Sea Watch Foundation and Marine Awareness North Wales.

They were studying Britain's largest coastal population of bottlenose dolphins, which live in Cardigan Bay during the summer to breed and feed.

Watch the fascinating footage here...

Jellyfish: 18 Dangerous Beauties

Stunning Shot of Colorful Jellyfish (PIC)

CLICK TO ENLARGE

ngm.nationalgeographic.com — Sparkling like underwater fireworks, this six-inch-wide (15 centimeters) Olindias jellyfish at California's Monterey Bay Aquarium displays an extravagantly curled and colored armament of tentacles loaded with stinging cells. Click to enlarge... (Photo: Frans Lanting)

UFO, Jellyfish Crop Circle found in Oxfordshire Field Telegraph Published June 2, 2009

Jellyfish, Jellyfish Everywhere... (PIC)

photography.nationalgeographic… — Waters boil with jellyfish in one of Palau's marine lakes. Surprises hide in each of some 80 such lakes in this Pacific archipelago. This photograph was taken on assignment for "Strange World of Palau's Salt Lakes" in the February 1982 National Geographic.

Jellyfish protein helps regrow joint cartilage

February 7th, 2009 The Yomiuri Shimbun in Medicine & Health / Research

Mucin, a protein extracted from Nomura's jellyfish, has proved highly effective in regrowing cartilage in joints, scientists in Japan claim.

The finding may provide a beneficial use of the jellyfish, also known as echizen kurage, which have been a damage-causing plague to the nation's fisheries.

The curative effect of the protein nearly doubles when it is mixed with hyaluronic acid, a chemical usually used for the treatment of osteoarthritis, according to the results of experiments on rabbits undertaken at Tokai University and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Science.

The results of the research are scheduled to be officially reported at a meeting of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine to be held in Tokyo in March.

Kiminori Ushida, head of the institute, and his team succeeded in extracting the protein from the jellyfish.

The research team eroded cartilage in the knee joints of rabbits to induce symptoms of osteoarthritis and later injected hyaluronic acid mixed with mucin into the worn joints. When they examined the rabbits 10 weeks later, the worn-down cartilage had almost totally regrown.

The recovery rate was about 1.6 to 2.6 times higher than in rabbits that received shots of only hyaluronic acid, according to the team.

___

(c) 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Visit the Daily Yomiuri Online at http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

'Immortal' jellyfish swarming across the world

An 'immortal' jellyfish is swarming through the world's oceans, according to scientists.

An 'immortal' jellyfish is swarming through the world's oceans, according to scientists. Photo: BARCROFT

The Turritopsis Nutricula is able to revert back to a juvenile form once it mates after becoming sexually mature.

Marine biologists say the jellyfish numbers are rocketing because they need not die.

Dr Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute said: "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion."

The jellyfish are originally from the Caribbean but have spready all over the world.

Turritopsis Nutricula is technically known as a hydrozoan and is the only known animal that is capable of reverting completely to its younger self.

It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation.

Scientists believe the cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering it potentially immortal.

While most members of the jellyfish family usually die after propagating, the Turritopsis nutricula has developed the unique ability to return to a polyp state.

Having stumbled upon the font of eternal youth, this tiny creature which is just 5mm long is the focus of many intricate studies by marine biologists and geneticists to see exactly how it manages to literally reverse its aging process.

NSF Reports on Jellyfish Gone Wild

by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 12.14.08

Image from Monty Graham/Dauphin Island Sea Lab

If you have any interest whatsoever in jellyfish—and, really, who doesn't?—then you should head on over to the National Science Foundation (NSF) website and read their special report on the environmental causes and ramifications of large jellyfish swarms. The interactive site is chock-full of videos, pictures (of course), interesting trivia (for example: a single jellyfish may release up to 45,000 eggs in a day) and several excellent primers on the species' ecology and swarm behavior.

Image from NOAA

It's no secret that jellyfish have slowly, but steadily, begun taking over the oceans in recent years. Thanks to climate change, overfishing, habitat deterioration and other anthropogenic impacts, jellyfish have flourished, both in size and in sheer numbers, often forming swarms of hundreds of millions of organisms.

The Japanese had a harrowing experience in the summer of 2005 when almost 500 million jellyfish—each weighing around 450 pounds—took up residence in the Sea of Japan on a daily basis. On a global scale, the massive swarms have cost the fishing and tourism industries hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions, of dollars in damage since 1980.

As Kimberley wrote about a few months ago, many biologists believe the growing presence of these gelatinous, seemingly innocuous, creatures signals that something is deeply wrong with the world's marine ecosystems. If the pace of their invasion is any indication, it may already be too late to save some of the most vulnerable ones.

Though jellyfish populations typically rise and fall over a 16 to 18-year period, their natural life and reproductive cycles seem to have accelerated under conditions of global warming and anthropogenic impact; indeed, 2008 marked the eight consecutive year that their numbers continued their meteoric rise.

Here are a few more interesting tidbits you'll find on the NSF's website:

1 microsecond is the time it takes a jellyfish stinger to hit its target. The discharge of the jellyfish's stinger is among the fastest movements in nature.

1/3 of the total weight of all life in Monterey Bay is from gelatinous animals.

20-40 people are killed annually from box jellyfish stings in the Philippines alone.

Some of the areas that have witnessed the largest increases in numbers—and the most spectacular swarms—include Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Australia, the Black Sea and the North Sea. You can see the full breakdown of swarm locations in recent years here.

More about jellyfish
Huge Jellyfish Numbers "Signal Something Has Changed" in Oceans
Jellyfish: Coming to a Beach Near You