The Other Population Explosion
Mankind isn’t the only animal that’s going forth and multiplying and smothering the planet. The oceans are being strangled by jillions and gazillions of jellyfish — sort of the Homo sapiens of the marine world.
This is being caused partially by over-fishing, which is removing their predators and competitors. Another factor is the warming of the oceans. In other words — sorry, rightwads — global warming. Climate change.
Pollution is another culprit. Jellyfish thrive in the kind of pollution that kills almost everything else. Maybe someday the oceans will be like those clogged sick polluted rivers that have nothing but carp.
One of the worst examples is the Black Sea. According to a recent sampling, ninety percent of its biomass was jellyfish. [shudder] Aah, come on in, the water’s nice.
The Sea of Japan has also been swamped with hordes of jellyfish. If this article is correct, 300 million to 500 million jellyfish were flowing into the Sea of Japan from the Tsushima Strait every day.
The same eco-nightmare is happening in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Florida, among other places.
The Global-Warming-Is-A-Myth brigade might soon be dealing with a tougher opponent than just a few wacky treehuggers: the international fishing and tourism industries.
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Jellyfish population explosion
posted by Tom Harper @ 7:10 PM
14 Comments:
Obviously, this is just some kind of aberration. There's bound to be some simple explanation. Give the American Enterprise Institute and U.S. Chamber of Commerce a little time and I'm sure they'll come up with it.
In the meantime, not to worry. Nature will eventually take care of this little blip.
Besides, swimming in the sea is so middle class. People who count have their own swimming pools.
Ahem.
The Vietnamese make a wonderful Jellyfish salad - I'm ready to do my part.
*Sorry*
Erik
I saw something on TV a few weeks ago on this very subject. I was quite intrigued.
It's depressing that we're doing this kind of shit to our world, even moreso that too few give a shit.
I'm going to have to try me some jellyfish salad!
Wow, I didn't even know there were that many Democrats.
SW: No doubt this is just another backdoor method for those socialist treehuggers to ruin America by destroying free enterprise. And yes, if somebody doesn't have their own swimming pool, what good are they?
Erik: Jellyfish salad might have to become one of the world's basic foods.
Carlos: I'm surprised there hasn't been more news coverage of this. There was a story a few weeks ago on Yahoo! News. I bookmarked it, but then the story had disappeared by the time I was ready to use it for a post.
Randal: Oceans clogged with Democrats, LOL.
Randal beat me to it with the Dems-jellyfish comparison.
If we hadn't had so many jellyfish in Congress posing as Democrats the last couple of years, maybe we could have gotten a better start on working to make things better. S.W. has it right too... there are people on the right side of the aisle who will come up with all kinds of great comments worthy of inclusion in stand-up comedy routines. I wonder what guys like James Inhofe have to say about this?
Too many jellyfish as part of the biomass... frogs disappearing... honeybees dying... scheise. I guess it's just God's will, eh? Heh...
Snave: Yes, it's God's Will and we mortals must not take issue with it. If bees and frogs are going extinct and being replaced by jellyfish, it clearly is God's Intent. We must focus on more important issues, such as abortion and the Homosexual Agenda.
I'm sure the rightwads would right it off as natural selection then continue to press to remove Darwin from public schools.
Lew: Undoubtedly. And the wingtards don't even see the irony of it.
"I wonder what guys like James Inhofe have to say about this?"
Please, I already heard today what the Stone Age's gift to 21st-century America had to say about providing the Obama administration the rest of the TARP funds. My blood pressure won't benefit from hearing his knee-jerk reaction to jellyfish proliferation — expert though I'm sure he is, coming from Oklahoma and all.
I'm certainly no scientist, but just a thought. Could the proliferation of jelly fish be due not to global warming but simply to pollution? Pollution could raise the water temperature, change the O2 concentration of the water as well as the saline content and PH. I've read articles that claim global warming, and those that don't believe the whole global warming thing. Either way I know this and hundreds of other things (honey bees) is something to be concerned about. I wish I had a swimming pool.
Kate: Anything is possible. Warming of the oceans is one of the factors, but it's possible that that's one of the effects of pollution. I'm not much of a scientist either. But these trends are alarming in any case.
This is another brilliant example of cause and effect, and the simple fact that humans are not destroying the planet as much as they are destroying their own ability to survive as a speicies. The planet will be here until the climate of the solar system changes, but humans will not.
By the way... to all you morons obsessed with political and national ideology. clinging to your view like a sloth on a tree. You're all slaves to the same ignorance. Do you really believe that bullshit you're shoveling. Right or left, capitalist or socialist, god or no-god. these are all just imaginary identities you hold onto for dear life.
Yeah, TB, what we're doing is a lot like clinging to a moniker such as "Twisted Branch" instead of using one's own name.
BTW, don't let your oversized sense of self-superiority get hit by the door on the way out. You might give the rest of us ideas about who the real moron is.
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