November 23rd, 2007, 2 Comments »
Gwendolyn sends along a bizarre story from Northern Ireland:
The only salmon farm in Northern Ireland has lost its entire population of more than 100,000 fish, worth some $2 million, to a spectacular jellyfish attack, its owners said Wednesday.
The Northern Salmon Co. Ltd. said billions of jellyfish–in a dense pack of about 10 square miles and 35 feet deep–overwhelmed the fish last week in two net pens about a mile off the coast of the Glens of Antrim, north of Belfast.
Managing director John Russell said the company’s dozen workers tried to rescue the salmon, but their three boats struggled for hours to push their way through the mass of jellyfish. All the fish were dead or dying from stings and stress by the time the boats reached the pens, he said.
The boat couldn’t get through? Man, that’s a lot of Pelagia nocticula. Apparently Jellyfish aren’t big fans of fish-farming either.
UPDATE: The Telegraph features a couple of photos of the jellyfish hordes. Where can I find more?
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September 16th, 2007, 3 Comments »
While snorkeling yesterday, I saw the most remarkable thing I’ve seen underwater:
It’s a Cassiopea jellyfish. That’s not my photo, but the one I saw looked very similar. It’s strikingly large–the one I saw was probably a foot in diameter. Its undulating motion was hypnotizing. Two interesting facts about this species: juvenile fish often make take temporary shelter among its tentacles–you can see some sand smelt (I think) doing this in another photo. The other fact comes from Wikipedia:
Sometimes this jellyfish is picked up by a crab (Dorippe frascone) and carried on its back. The crab uses the jellyfish to defend itself against possible predators.
I’ve become addicted to the Facebook version of Scrabble, Scrabulous. After playing a word, the app loaded new letters into my tray. Entirely at random, look what it spelled:
What’re the odds? And when is Hasbro going to sue whoever made that Facebook app?
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June 24th, 2007, 10 Comments »
This morning I was stung by a Pelagia noctiluca, a small luminous jellyfish. I was snorkeling out beyond the bay where I usually go, and had spotted plenty of jellies in the water. I was being careful, but I guess the current carried this one into my outstretched arm.
It hurt like a big, bad bee sting (heh). I thrashed around a bit, swiping at my arm and generally looking like shark bait. A section of my arm went numb for a few moments. Then it just throbbed as I made the long swim back to shore.
Yes, I could have, uh, peed on it when I got back to shore, but I opted to just drive home and apply a more acidic fluid: vinegar. It had a nearly immediate effect. After a cold compress and about six hours, I can barely feel the sting.
Other Photos of Stings
I got to thinking about what else can sting me, both under the waves and on top of them. That led to a long, gross search for photos of stings in Flickr that looked way, way worse than my lame discolouration. I thought I’d assemble them here for your edification. They’re after the jump, because some are fairly disgusting, and I don’t want to be responsible for anybody losing their lunch on their keyboard. In most cases, you can click for even more close-up grossness.
Read more…
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