Yoshida Battles the Pink Jellyfish
posted by Frank Pasquale
The WSJ has a great story on a jellyfish invasion in Japanese waters:
Fisherman Ryoichi Yoshida pulled in his nets before dawn one morning, hoping for lots of yellowtail and mackerel. But the fish were overwhelmed by a heaving mass of living pink slime. The creatures, called Nomura jellyfish, can measure six feet across and weigh up to about 450 pounds.
Fish poisoned by jellyfish tentacles die with their mouths agape. That mars their appearance and reduces their value by as much as 20%. “When their mouths are wide open, it means they’ve died going, ‘I’m in pain! I’m in pain!’ ” explains Mr. Yoshida.
The jellyfish could lead to an international incident–either over Chinese industrialization, or global warming:
[A] computer model of ocean currents suggests the jellyfish are breeding off the Chinese coast near the mouth of the Yangtze River. One theory is that pollution, perhaps linked to industrialization in China, is helping create more algae in the sea. The algae are food for plankton, which is food for jellyfish. . . . [But the] dean of the Ocean University of China [says] “Floating jellyfish are mostly in the Sea of Japan….That’s Japan and Korea’s problem.”
One fear among scientists is that the creatures are multiplying in a “jellyfish spiral.” Shinichi Uye, a leading jellyfish researcher at Hiroshima University in western Japan, thinks overfishing off China has led to fewer plankton-eating fish, leaving more plankton for the jellyfish to suck up. This growing army of jellyfish then also eats fish eggs, resulting in even fewer fish.
If China is helping to generate giant pink jellyfish, it will be interesting to see if any international body can do anything to control the problem. On the other hand, the new popularity of “vanilla-and-jellyfish ice cream” shows that the industrious can turn even the most noxious pests into a blessing in disguise.
Photo Credit: Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
November 29, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Posted in: Environmental Law, Weird
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Responses (2)
Garrett - November 29, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I am glad you are so hip to reference The Flaming Lips’ only good album. Congrats.
Belle Lettre - November 29, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I concur with Garrett:
http://lawandletters.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-wouldn-let-pink-robots-defeat-you_05.html
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