Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The sting of the jellyfish

Given how depressing the news can be, I thought this might be an interesting little story to break up the litany of horror that seems to draw our attention day after day:

Thousands of holidaymakers in the Mediterranean have been stung by jellyfish as huge swarms of the creatures invade coastal waters.

I mean, jellyfish stings generally aren't that serious. The presence of jellyfish in coastal waters may not be conducive to pleasant vacationing, but, well, no big deal. Right?

Wrong. For it seems that the high concentration of jellyfish in the Mediterranean has likely been caused by overfishing of the jellyfish's natural predators.

That's bad. But so -- more so -- is this: Global warming may be a contributing factor, too, with "higher temperatures and higher salinity near the coast," according to one expert, bringing jellyfish closer to land.

Let the depression resume.

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