Jellyish invasion-Gulf of Mexico around the Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands

Monday, 19 September, 2011 at 03:01 (03:01 AM) UTC Source

Swarms of dinner-plate-size moon jellyfish are gathering in the Gulf of Mexico around the Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands in numbers and sizes so large that they look almost like steppingstones, The Press-Register in Mobile, Ala., reports. Moon jellyfish have weak stings that are not usually felt by humans, though swimmers report an uncomfortable sensation when they feel the creatures’ gelatinous bodies, according to The Press-Register. In Florida, jellyfish — some appearing to be of the moon species, with the distinctive four-leaf-clover shape of their internal organs — were found “every 10 yards” on beaches in Brevard County, Florida Today reported. The blobs have receded from the numbers seen early this month: Tropical Storm Lee churned up the gulf’s waters and pushed many of them away from shore. Before that happened, the waters were so thick with translucent pink blobs that some shrimpers could not ply their trade, The Press-Register said. “We’ve had a lot of trouble. There were a couple of weeks before the storm where we quit shrimping over around Tensaw because we couldn’t even pick up the nets for all the jellies,” said Larry Scott, who shrimps in Mobile Bay to supply his bait shop, Scott’s Landing on the Causeway. “It’s not bad now — we’ve got all the fresh water from the storm. It’s pushed them all back down the bay. But for a while there, people couldn’t even fish for speckled trout.” As for what to do with the piles of jellyfish on the beaches, thespecies is actually edible.

I searched for some information on this, found some reports of this in Florida as well.

And I found this video showing one of these suckers



Here is a bit of information I had not known, thought I would pass it along...

Size Jellyfish can be as small as a grape or as big as a bed. It depends on what kind of jellyfish it is. If it is a box jellyfish and it is full grown it will be 4 meters long. If it is an umbrella jellyfish and it is full grown then it will only be about 1 inch long.

What happens when jellyfish get washed up to shore? When jellyfish get washed up to shore they can’t get back in the water. If you spot one laying on the beach remember where you saw it. Go back the next day. Then you will find that the jellyfish has melted. When jellyfish melt, all there will be is some of its skin surrounding the jellyfish. The inside will have evaporated.

So I wonder, what part of the jellyfish is edible? If they melt in a day....guess you'd have to eat them quickly!

One Grilled Jellyfish Salad coming up!

Jellyfish salad with golden tomatoes, opal basil, and arugula
From The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali

Serves 4

1 pound salted jellyfish
4 1-inch slices peasant bread, grilled or tossed
2 tablespoons best quality extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
1 pint yellow and red pear tomatoes, halved
10 opal basil leaves, finely shredded
1 bunch arugula
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse the jellyfish under cold water. Remove and discard the tentacles, then cut the body into thin slices. Place the jellyfish slices in a large bowl.

Drizzle each bread slice with some of the olive oil.

Add the tomatoes, basil, and arugula to the bowl with the jellyfish. Add the vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper and toss well to coat evenly. Divide the salad among four chilled dinner plates and serve with a slice of bread.
Source(s):
www.npr.org...

reply to post by ReluctantBlossom


I wonder how you preserve the melting jellyfish to prepare


Any members ever had jellyfish before?

What is with the invasion of the jelly fish? Do you remember the stories in the news not too long ago how the jelly fish had invaded several nuclear plants around the same time? Then I was researching the Diablo Nuclear Plant in California and what do you know....they had an invasion of the jelly fish too. Lots of weirdness now days.

reply to post by kwell


I think I missed that! Now I have to look in to that. Thanks for mentioning this

Originally posted by summer5
reply to post by kwell

 

I think I missed that! Now I have to look in to that. Thanks for mentioning this

www.theage.com.au... Japan nuclear power plant

www.christianpost.com... UK nuclear plant

www.rawstory.com...
Israel nuclear plant

www.newtimesslo.com... Diablo nuclear plant in California.....I stumbled onto this one. How many others that are not being reported in the news?

Originally posted by kwell

Originally posted by summer5
reply to post by kwell

 

www.newtimesslo.com... Diablo nuclear plant in California.....I stumbled onto this one. How many others that are not being reported in the news?

edit on 20-9-2011 by kwell because: (no reason given)

kwell, you are kewl

First, thank you for the links. I had found a couple of them in my searching...now I have more.

Also I wondered exactly the same thing, how many others are not being reported. I found a link for Operating Nuclear Plants HERE Hmmm..I wonder if any of those are being effected?

I have been following the stories on jellyfish, as they seem to be everywhere lately. Maybe they are the only thing left in the ocean and that is why there are so many, I am joking, but they can survive better than fish or ocean mammals.

Also, I have been trying to figure out why the jellyfish seem to like nuclear power plants, maybe they are trying to shut them down. They must be attracted to something, but I have not figured out what yet, radiation maybe? Could they survive better than fish in water that has radiation in it or even oil?, that would explain why there are so many. But it could be something else altogether. S & F.

Just answered my own question-jellyfish like warmer water, and that is why they come to the power plants. From the article mentioned above:

Jellyfish Invasion Forces U.K. Nuclear Plant to Suspend Services

Are animals joining the ranks of environment activists or is it global warming?

An “invasion of jellyfish” into cooling water inflow area of Scotland’s Torness nuclear power plant Tuesday led EDF Energy to shut both units there manually.

Nuclear power plants draw water from nearby seas or rivers to cool down their reactors and when it gets warm, marine animals like jellyfish tend to move inshore.

Source

Originally posted by PacificBlue
Just answered my own question-jellyfish like warmer water, and that is why they come to the power plants. From the article mentioned above:

Jellyfish Invasion Forces U.K. Nuclear Plant to Suspend Services

Are animals joining the ranks of environment activists or is it global warming?

An “invasion of jellyfish” into cooling water inflow area of Scotland’s Torness nuclear power plant Tuesday led EDF Energy to shut both units there manually.

Nuclear power plants draw water from nearby seas or rivers to cool down their reactors and when it gets warm, marine animals like jellyfish tend to move inshore.

Source

edit on 21-9-2011 by PacificBlue because: grammar

If that is the reason why has this only been happening the last few years?

reply to post by kwell


Would have responded sooner, have been out of town. There are more jellyfish, and less predators, at least that might be one reason, but it is hard to be sure. I do think something is different.

Jellyfish are taking over the oceans: Population surge as rising acidity of world's seas kills predators

Source

Jellyfish boom threatens ocean

Source

One of the article says it is climate change related, and the other one says it is from overfishing and fertilizers. Maybe a combination of things is affecting the balance of the ocean. I guess it would be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause.

Run for your life, its the Jellyfish invasion.

You live on the coast summer?

reply to post by summer5


I have never seen a jelly fish so big in my life.Use to go to a beach in MD. called Sandy Point..Well i could never figure out why my parents would pick this terrible place to swim because you really couldn't swim due to all the jelly fish. Just imagine getting stung by this huge thing..I don't think i would survive it..I learned that when jelly fish surface like that it usually has to do with the water temp.but this whole earth seems to be heating up..I have never seen one that size come to the surface and beach like that..To many things going on the water must of really heated up or something might be getting ready to happen(quake).

Never fails for me to get stung by a jellyfish when I go to florida.

Japan Nomura's Jellyfish - 2009

I remember a Discovery or Nat Geo show a couple years ago about this invasion in Japan - they (fishermen) were using these nets to cut up (or manually cut up) these giants in an effort to control the population - unaware that they were causing mass egg dispersal...compounding the problem at a massive rate.

Something else about evidence of several jellyfish invasions on a global scale in the fossil record...can't find the actual show but...

ETA:

Looks like these suckers on the Atlantic Coast as well as GOM...


Mo Nomura's...

In June 2005 in Northern Ireland I went horseback riding on the beach just south of Dublin for 4 hours.
There were jelly fish every where some of them 3-4 feet wide! My horse was frightened and spent three hours being spooked and trying to dump me off. The wind was also blowing hard that day. I eventually got off and made the guide girl in her early twenties take him backout of the park. Now that I think about it we should have swapped horses, because I walked out. That horse must have stepped on one previously in life. I think you can get stung by beached jelly fish. I would like to see a photo of that jelly fish salad, it sounds like stomache flu in the making.