The Truth Behind Global Jellyfish Swarms

West Coast sea nettle.

8. Are jellies finally getting the respect they deserve?
Appreciation of the ecological importance of jellies has steadily grown since the 1980s, when jelly populations exploded in several ecosystems, including the Black Sea. More scientists are now studying jellies in more locations than ever before.

9. Why are jellies particularly difficult to study?
Jellies are fragile and so they are often destroyed when we try to collect them in nets. Also, jellies are difficult to preserve because their bodies are destroyed by many types of preservatives. Plus, many types of jellies are too big or too small to be raised and studied in captivity.

10. Have you ever been badly stung by jellies while researching them?
Yes, but not more than an uncomfortable sting. I do have colleagues that have been hospitalized while studying jellies, though.

11. In light of the fact that jellies are difficult to study and the ocean is so complex, how can scientists identify the individual impacts of each type of environmental disturbance on jelly populations?
By developing computer models of marine ecosystems. One of my main activities now is to help build such models, and then manipulate various factors in these models - such as water temperature or salinity and the size of fish harvests - in order to identify their relative influences on jelly populations.

12. If some places have too many jellies, why don’t people just eat them?
Some jellies are eaten by humans and have long been considered a delicacy in some Asian countries. In addition, processed jellies are sold in some Asian food stores in the U.S.

13. As long-lived, hardy and often abundant creatures, are jellies "the cockroaches of the sea?"
Absolutely not! Jellies are much better than cockroaches! Jellies represent among the oldest living animals on Earth and if the past is prologue, these highly successful creatures will continue to thrive even under the changing conditions of today's oceans. I have said before that most likely cockroaches will be long gone when the last jelly swims in a lonely sea.