The Blob lurks beneath the waves

The Blob

OK...this ranks right up there with all things ugly. Apparently this is a threat to whatever fish/fishing is left in the oceans and it's growing

First I heard of it was last nite.

www.canada.com...


A giant blob is swallowing up everything in it's path along the ocean floor nearly 500 kilometres off the coast of Halifax.


It's called a tunicate, a slimy form of sea life that's already been discovered off the coast of the Netherlands, New Zealand and British Columbia.

The blob near the Nova Scotia coast is more concentrated and is estimated at *more than 200 square kilometres, or 2,000 football fields, and has doubled in size in the last year. Because of it's tendency to smother bottom dwelling sea creatures like scallops and fish it poses a real threat to the East Coast Fishery.

*Bolding mine

Yuk

Will this stuff grow and grow until it grows lungs, legs and walks the land like a really bad B movie?

What the heck is it and is it new? Not much online at the moment, but if you find anything, please add on.

related
www.freerepublic.com...
blogfishx.blogspot.com...





[edit on 27/11/06 by masqua]

Hey good fjind, Masqua. My husband is a biologist and he will be home soon. I will ask him about this when he returns and post any interesting info.

This is pretty scary, though. I mean, how large will this thing get?

en.wikipedia.org...

A ravenous destroyer of life that consumes without concern for the stability of the ecosystems on which it depends? Screw him, that's OUR job!

I say we kill it and process the thing for Vanadium.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

en.wikipedia.org...

I say we kill it and process the thing for Vanadium.

Thanks for the Wiki link

killing it might be a good thing...except there's others already discovered besides the 200 sq. km. one off Halifax. There's also the ones off New Zealand and Holland, so there's no telling how many others are already existing that we don't know about.

Also, from the 'related link' comes this gem...

www.freerepublic.com...

"It’s something new. It covers up the bottom and it forms a barrier between fish and what fish feed on, so logically you’d think it could be a problem,” said Page Valentine, a scientist with the agency. “At some point, it could get so pervasive that everybody will realize we’ve got a problem out there, and it’ll be too late.”

Bolding mine

Another fascinating and truly frightful bit was this from the OP;

more than 200 square kilometres, or 2,000 football fields, and has doubled in size in the last year.

Could this be exponential growth of a new organism? Here's a possible 5 year growth rate;

2 sq. miles
4 " "
32 " "
1024 " "
1,048,576 " "





[edit on 27/11/06 by masqua]

Masqua, here's what I've been able to find. It explains alot about this:

eitherorr.blogspot.com...

This "blob" is threatening biodiversity in the seas.

With the combination of human pollution, overfishing, and blobs, the future looks even more grim.

Very interesting...

This organism can be used by humans to do some good in the medical community. After reading its information on Wikipedia, it looks like it contains very potent anti-viral and anti-cancerous properties. All we need now is to find a way to harness the extracts from these creatures to lead it to extinction.

Ever read Across the Sea of Suns ? I forget the author. Talks about large sea-dwelling aliens that provoke humans into war amongst ourselves.
Just some food for thought. Good read, too.

Lex

Originally posted by forestlady
Masqua, here's what I've been able to find. It explains alot about this:

eitherorr.blogspot.com...

Thanks, forestlady good link! At least we now have a name for the problem.

from your link;

The scientific name for the invader is didemnum. It is a tunicate, a very simple animal that lives inside a skin, or tunic, has no skeleton and filters microscopic bacteria and plankton from ocean water.

And, we now also know that trawlers can help spread them

Tunicates reproduce several ways, but researchers recently discovered they can simply replicate themselves if torn apart. That means disturbing a tunicate colony could spread the colony, as the tiny particles drift with ocean currents.
That may be a problem on Georges Bank, where draggers regularly plough through the ocean floor searching for tasty scallops. Valentine says each pass by a drag boat may create a new infestation of tunicates somewhere else, as the animals are torn up and float away.

DJMessiah...at least there's a silver lining to this 'cloud'

omega1... the oceans are under severe threat, you're right. This is just another nail in the coffin, imo.

[edit on 27/11/06 by masqua]

Looks like a coral reef to me. I dunno sounds like something iky perhaps humans overfishing has taken away some natural preditor of it. You know balance of nature.