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Old 01-02-2008, 16:16   #16
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I'm sorry...

Regrettably the box jellyfish and it's unpleasant cousins are small and hard to see.

Had a neighbour in Airlie that jumped on one just off one of the local islands.

They got her to the local doctor (who knew what to do) in time but it was very close.
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Old 01-02-2008, 16:27   #17
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The Gulf Coast has the most jellyfish that I've seen anywhere in the world FWIW.
Long Island Sound also has so many you would walk across.

I'm no marine biologist, but it seems these huge blooms of jellyfish are somewhat new (like global warming). Is it a sign of a change in the sea's ecosystem?
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Old 01-02-2008, 19:08   #18
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Regrettably the box jellyfish and it's unpleasant cousins are small and hard to see.
Don't be sorry. You may be right about the cousins, but the box jellyfish (chironex fleckeri) grows to have a bell diameter of about 30 cm, with up to 15 tentacles from each corner growing out to a length of 3 metres. If that's small, then I would hate to see what you consider to be big.

See for yourself: The Australian Box Jellyfish
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Old 01-02-2008, 19:31   #19
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I just took a marine environments class. I don't remember exactly what causes it. Definately warm water, and I think blooms of plankton growth have an effect. I do remember hearing that once you have large amounts of jellyfish in an area, that area is pretty much dead.

Warm water environments usually don't have a lot of life anyway since there are usually few nutrients in the water to feed plant growth, which means that the rest of the food chain is also pretty sparse.
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Old 01-02-2008, 19:56   #20
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I just took a marine environments class. I don't remember exactly what causes it. Definately warm water, and I think blooms of plankton growth have an effect. I do remember hearing that once you have large amounts of jellyfish in an area, that area is pretty much dead.

Warm water environments usually don't have a lot of life anyway since there are usually few nutrients in the water to feed plant growth, which means that the rest of the food chain is also pretty sparse.
That's pretty bad news. My wife and I have observed a lot more harbors overtaken by jellyfish and also a lack of regular fish in the same areas. I'd say we saw (by direct observation) what you describe above.
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Old 01-02-2008, 20:52   #21
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That's pretty bad news. My wife and I have observed a lot more harbors overtaken by jellyfish and also a lack of regular fish in the same areas. I'd say we saw (by direct observation) what you describe above.
No not really bad news. It's all swings and roundabouts. It just happens to be that one ecosystem will support one form of life and another system another. Warmer waters have different animal species to colder. This is one reason why you see..say box jelly fish in Ozy waters and Man'o'wars in other waters, yet the water is all linked. There are boundaries of currents and temperatures. The "swarming" is nothing different to winds and tides causing them to drift. The odd "bloom" of jelly fish may happen when everyhting is just right for them. But in a few montsh, the system cycles and the jellyfish are gone and somehting else takes their place.
Now I remember why I don't want to live in Australia. Poisonus jelly fish, snakes and spiders and if you can avoid those, you could get eatin by a Crock. It's a wonder the population is so big over.
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Old 01-02-2008, 20:57   #22
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First Aid - the vinegar is not for salad dressing...

"...but the box jellyfish (chironex fleckeri) grows to have a bell diameter of about 30 cm..."

Point taken. I know they are very hard to see. I have never recognised one.

Cruisers in the Northern Australia to Philippines region should carry vinegar (4 litres + ?).

First Aid advice from the James Cook University in Townsville.
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Old 01-02-2008, 21:08   #23
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I've been spending a lot of time in China over the past year and a bowl of jellyfish is brought out as an appetizer before every meal. I'm sure the specific species makes the difference, as I don't think they are from Australia! They are actually quite good and surprisingly crunchy.

I have lived on the extreme eastern end of Long Island Sound for over 16 years and the cycles of jellyfish don't seem to coincide (to me) with anything - warm water, cold water, lots of rain, dry season, etc. Some years you can walk across them and other years you never see any. The last two years had none. Zippo. The previous two years you couldn't enter the water and I would get stung just handling the anchor from tentacles stuck on the rode. Even the dinghy painter would sting me at times.

Other years have been better, worse and in between. I haven't been able to notice a pattern. The only constant is that when I want to go in the water, I always walk around the boat a number of times over the course of an hour looking for jellyfish. When I am absolutely convinced there are none within miles of me, I jump in the water and immediately get lashed across the face with a ginormous set of tentacles. It has become somewhat of a legend (joke?) on our boat.

Mark
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Old 01-02-2008, 23:19   #24
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The Pacific Sunfish eats jellies. Check out the size of the diver by comparison.

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) Photographs, Phillip Colla Natural History Photography
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Old 02-02-2008, 01:44   #25
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I don’t think that scientists are certain what causes jellyfish appearances about various shorelines world-wide. Some researchers suggest that global warming is causing the temperature of beach water to go up which increases the jellyfish's desire to migrate there. Once there they catch the small fry that have just hatched in their poison tentacles. One jellyfish strategically located can knock out an entire hatching for a particular fish species.

Evidently, Hawaii's box jellyfish are unique among the world's jellyfish, because their arrival on shore is very predictable. They come near the beach to spawn for a few days, 8 to 12 days after each full moon.

CSL Antivenom Handbook
Jellyfish and Other Marine Animals

Goto: CSL Antivenom Handbook - Jellyfish and other Marine Animals

“There are many species of jellyfish which can affect humans. The major Australian box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri , is the only proven lethal species, for which there is an antivenom, and will be discussed in that section. There are several other species which can cause severe, maybe lethal, reactions. All jellyfish sting using individual stinging cells (nematocysts), and millions of these may discharge into a patient in a major jellyfish sting. Some of this venom may directly enter capillaries, so systemic envenoming can be very rapid indeed. Much less commonly, the venom may cause "allergic" type reactions in some people. Pain is not a universal diagnostic feature of all jellyfish envenoming, though it is the most common symptom...”

For more valuable information, see also:
CSL Antivenom Handbook - Contents
CSL Antivenom Handbook Index
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Old 02-02-2008, 04:48   #26
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I've been spending a lot of time in China over the past year and a bowl of jellyfish is brought out as an appetizer before every meal. I'm sure the specific species makes the difference, as I don't think they are from Australia! They are actually quite good and surprisingly crunchy.

I have lived on the extreme eastern end of Long Island Sound for over 16 years and the cycles of jellyfish don't seem to coincide (to me) with anything - warm water, cold water, lots of rain, dry season, etc. Some years you can walk across them and other years you never see any. The last two years had none. Zippo. The previous two years you couldn't enter the water and I would get stung just handling the anchor from tentacles stuck on the rode. Even the dinghy painter would sting me at times.

Other years have been better, worse and in between. I haven't been able to notice a pattern. The only constant is that when I want to go in the water, I always walk around the boat a number of times over the course of an hour looking for jellyfish. When I am absolutely convinced there are none within miles of me, I jump in the water and immediately get lashed across the face with a ginormous set of tentacles. It has become somewhat of a legend (joke?) on our boat.

Mark
Ha ha... I can relate, Mark. We (and charter guests too) would spend quite a bit of time watching for them and then being very careful to jump in *between* spots of them and quickly swim for the ladder.

So are our drugs being manufactured in China too now?
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Old 02-02-2008, 06:19   #27
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So are our drugs being manufactured in China too now?
Bit of drifting thread, but I've been told that almost all synthesized Vitamin C is manufactured in China, so multivitamins and products with Vit C added have Chinese content, but it doesn't have to be disclosed on the label.
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Old 04-02-2008, 13:59   #28
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Borocay - On the same page as the description of the box jelly fish was another species:

The other species that is known to have caused deaths is Carukia barnesi, commonly called Irukandji. This one is a tiny jellyfish, only about thumbnail size. I talk about Irukandji here.

Perhaps you w
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Old 06-02-2008, 16:37   #29
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Thanks for your comments, but I have not seen enough recipes or ideas using the 'ol jelly for me to quit my day job.
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Old 03-06-2013, 14:05   #30
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Re: Jellyfish

A new message to revive an old thread.

News - Jellyfish boom threatening the environment - The Weather Network
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