Scratch Art Jellyfish

Cool new video from Monterey Bay Aquarium & fun post by Deep Sea News

Deep Sea News had a post titled "Squishy yet Elegant", that describes jelly fish perfectly.  They posted this video featuring scientists fro the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It features elongated jellyfish relatives the siphonophores.  This links on video by KQED lead me to a new to me website on jellyfish called The Jellies Zone.  Who knows where the JelliesZone may lead me.

Sea Urchin Craft

It's not a jellyfish but sea urchins are cool too, especially when you make them into nightlights.  Here is a link to Make Magazine's project on making LED sea urchins:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/simple_and_beautiful_led-lit_sea_ur.html

Giant Jellyfish invasion video from GOODmagazine

This cool video came up after watching a cool drinking water video from GOODmagazine. Just imagine all the possible uses for jellyfish mucus. I have a blender!

Arctic Ocean Jellyfish

Here are some cool new photos from the Arctic Ocean on the BBC link below.

BBC Photos of Arctic Jellyfish http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8231000/8231553.stm

Scientists photograph jellyfish deep in Arctic Ocean.

http://aprn.org/2009/09/03/jellyfish-photographed-in-arctic-ocean/

Scientists have published photos of jellyfish found deep in the Arctic Ocean. During a series of dives, using remotely operated vehicles in 2002 and again in 2005, the animals were filmed, and now the photos have been published in the Journal of Deep Sea Research. The research took place in an area known as the Canadian Basin, just north of Point Barrow, which is an undersea trench cut off by deep ridges.

Ellen Lockyer, APRN – Anchorage

Now a Jellyfish Robot

This is pretty cool. a jellyfish robot. http://www.physorg.com/news165234976.html

Jellyfish Robot Swims Like its Biological Counterpart June 26th, 2009 By Lisa Zyga

(PhysOrg.com) -- "Jellyfish are one of the most awesome marine animals, doing a spectacular and psychedelic dance in water," explain engineers Sung-Weon Yeom and Il-Kwon Oh from Chonnam National University in the Republic of Korea. Recently, Yeom and Oh have built a jellyfish robot that imitates the curved shape and unique locomotive behavior of the living jellyfish.

A future where oceans dominated by Jellyfish instead of fish???

Between climate change, overfishing and pollution we are making conditions right for jellyfish to rule the sea. The follow article describes how human activities are creating an ocean where jellyfish can dominate.

http://www.csiro.au/news/Jellyfish-a-threat-to-the-oceans.html

‘Jellyfish joyride’ a threat to the oceans
Reference: 09/96
Early action could be crucial to addressing the problem of major increases in jellyfish numbers, which appears to be the result of human activities.
8 June 2009

New research led by CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and University of Queensland scientist, Dr Anthony Richardson, presents convincing evidence that this ’jellyfish joyride’ is associated with over-fishing and excess nutrients from fertilisers and sewage.

“Dense jellyfish aggregations can be a natural feature of healthy ocean ecosystems, but a clear picture is now emerging of more severe and frequent jellyfish outbreaks worldwide,” Dr Richardson says.

“In recent years, jellyfish blooms have been recorded in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Black and Caspian Seas, the Northeast US coast, and particularly in Far East coastal waters.
“Mounting evidence suggests that open-ocean ecosystems can flip from being dominated by fish, to being dominated by jellyfish,” Dr Richardson says.

“The most dramatic have been the outbreaks in the Sea of Japan involving the gargantuan Nomura jellyfish which can grow up to 2 m in diameter and weigh 200 kg.”

The new research, by Dr Richardson and colleagues at the University of Miami, Swansea University and the University of the Western Cape, has been published in the international journal; Trends in Ecology and Evolution, in time for World Oceans Day on 8 June.

“Fish normally keep jellyfish in check through competition and predation but overfishing can destroy that balance,” Dr Richardson says. “For example, off Namibia intense fishing has decimated sardine stocks and jellyfish have replaced them as the dominant species.”

Climate change may favour some jellyfish species by increasing the availability of flagellates in surface waters – a key jellyfish food source. Warmer oceans could also extend the distribution of many jellyfish species.

“Mounting evidence suggests that open-ocean ecosystems can flip from being dominated by fish, to being dominated by jellyfish,” Dr Richardson says “This would have lasting ecological, economic and social consequences.

“We need to start managing the marine environment in a holistic and precautionary way to prevent more examples of what could be termed a ‘jellyfish joyride’.”

National Research Flagships

CSIRO initiated the National Research Flagships to provide science-based solutions in response to Australia’s major research challenges and opportunities. The nine Flagships form multidisciplinary teams with industry and the research community to deliver impact and benefits for Australia.

Download images at: 'Jellyfish joyride' a threat to the oceans.

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References

Anthony J. Richardson, Andrew Bakun, Graeme C. Hays and Mark J. Gibbons. Trends in Ecology & Evolution Volume 24, Issue 6, June 2009, Pages 312-322: The jellyfish joyride: causes, consequences and management responses to a more gelatinous future. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.