Hundreds of Jellyfish Landings at New Zealand Coastline

“In the last month mass jellyfish landings have been reported on beaches from Nelson in the South Island to Whangarei in the top of the North Island,” writes Eleanor Ainge Roy for The Guardian.

Marine biology expert Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin identified the jellyfish as Lion’s Mane – the world’s largest jellyfish in Whangarei and as Desmonema in Nelson.

“I get excited any time there is jellyfish activity, and their welfare is not a concern because their population is not endangered,” said Gershwin.

“New Zealand can probably expect to see more of these landings in the coming years, as jellyfish take advantage of prime breeding conditions in the oceans, which help them grow in super abundance.”

Likely reasons for the population explosion “included warming sea waters providing fertile breeding grounds, nutrient rich seas and a lack of natural predators for the juvenile jellyfish due to over-fishing,” according to Gershwin.

“This is likely something we will begin to see more frequently. Worldwide, jellyfish are also appearing in places they’ve never seen before, such as box jellyfish being found in Sydney harbour,” said Miles Lamare, a marine biologist at Otago University.

Article Source: The Guardian, Eleanor Ainge Roy, October 12, 2016

Image Source: Wikipedia