Britain’s biggest swarm of sea nettles – spectacular stinging jellyfish – has been unveiled at Manchester Sea Life Centre.
The new display is designed to boost awareness of a potential global takeover of our oceans by jellyfish, the species best adapted to replace those hit by over-fishing and climate change.
Jellyfish invasions are becoming an annual summer phenomenon the world over, and summer 2015 saw record numbers recorded around the UK coast.
“Our National Jellyfish Survey suggests significant recent rises in the numbers of some jellyfish species in UK seas, most notably the barrel jellyfish,” said the Marine Conservation Society’s Dr Peter Richardson.
“The million dollar question is why this is happening? At the moment we just don’t know.”
Sea nettles, which deliver a sting that causes a painful rash in humans, have been causing big problems on the other side of the Atlantic.
“So many sea nettles have massed in a 42-mile coastal stretch called Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, that the US Government has launched a programme to combat them,” said Sea Life Manchester curator Dan McLaughlan.
“Boat owners are being urged to power wash their hulls to get rid of tiny jellyfish ‘polyps’ which eventually produce dozens of new young jellyfish,” he said.
Sea Life Manchester’s 30-strong jellyfish swarm – an alternative collective noun for which is a ‘smack’ – is being housed in a special ‘Kreisel’ display which maintains a circular current to keep their delicate bodies away from the tank’s hard surfaces.
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