This heatwave is caused by low surface water circulation in the ocean, leading to lower than usual heat transference from the sea to the atmosphere. However, a significantly larger die-off between 2003-2005 and again in 2015-2019, in a two-week window between March and April, coincided with a marine heatwave phenomenon known as The Blob. Researchers used a global citizen-scientist database put together by an organization called the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team to survey nearly 500 reports of jellyfish die-offs across almost 300 beaches.įrom the data, researchers discovered these die-offs usually occur in spring, as the direction in which the wind blew changed, pushing the jellies toward the shore. During a mass stranding, it’s like walking on a crunchy carpet,” Julia Parrish, Ph.D., a study author and professor in the University of Washing School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences in the U.S., said in a statement.Īs warmer winters are expected to increase with climate change, these findings could have clear implications not only for this jellyfish species but also for the fish they eat and the beaches where they become stranded and die. When they wash ashore, these jellies quickly dry to the consistency of potato chips. “On the water, velella are beautiful, fragile creatures. Research findings, supported by 20 years of observations from thousands of citizen-scientists, were published in Marine Ecology Progress Series. The dead fish number in the trillions, and the culprit is a recurring marine heatwave. Scientists have discovered a distinct pattern of sailor jellyfish, or velella, washing ashore and dying on beaches around the world.
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