Just as the weather heats up in the Mediterranean a nasty surprise makes it uncomfortable to surf and swim. After Egypt created the man-made Suez Canal to link the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea a nightmare of invasive animal, plant and bacterial species have overtook the Mediterranean Sea.

They compete with fish and habitat, causing harm to natural ecosystems. It’s been over 150 years since the canal was created and there is little evidence that Egypt has done anything to protect habitats on either side of the canal. Toxic jellyfish and invasive lionfish are two of the more well known invaders. Most worrisome has been the arrival of the Lagocephalus Sceleratus, an extremely poisonous bony fish commonly known as the silver-cheeked toadfish.

Desalination plants could create a salinity barrier that would slow the invaders from traveling back and forth but meanwhile research continues on the expansion and behavior of the newcomers.

The phenomenon of migrating from the Red to Med Sea is called the Lessepsian migration (or the Erythrean invasion). It is more rare for the migration to happen in the opposite direction.

One jellyfish, the invasive Rhopilema nomadica, is a nomad jellyfish indigenous to tropical warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Since the 70’s it has been also found in Mediterranean Sea, where it entered via the Suez Canal. It is now the the commonest jellyfish in the southeastern Mediterranean, and they actually direct themselves and “swim” to the west while swimming, according to researchers who studied them.

“Until now, it was assumed that jellyfish aggregations swim in a random manner, so that their direction is dictated solely by water currents…We discovered that along the coast of Israel, jellyfish swim toward the west, i.e., against the direction of the waves,” said Dr. Yoav Lehahn of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Haifa, the editor of the study.

Jellyfish belong to the phylum Cnidaria and have existed for around 500 million years without any morphological changes. Researchers’ knowledge about jellyfish is still very limited in many respects. One of the biggest unknowns  about jellyfish aggregations is the nature of their movement and migration patterns.

The lack of understanding of this aspect impairs the ability to prepare for the arrival of jellyfish at various facilities, such as power stations and desalination plants. “If the jellyfish were passive – in other words, if they were not able to move independently and simply drifted along in sea currents, we could predict the arrival of aggregations. We cannot do so, and this suggests that jellyfish have swimming capabilities that we do not yet understand,” the researchers explained.

The data collection stage in the study was complex: a light airplane flew along the coastline from Ashkelon in the south to Nahariya in the north, mapping the distribution of aggregations and identifying the largest ones. Next, the researchers monitored and photographed the direction of progress of the aggregations using drones operated from a nearby research boat.

The researchers examined the direction in which the aggregations swam relative to the sea currents and waves and found they swim collectively at a speed of around 10cm a second, moving to the west in a counter-wave direction. By so doing, they distance themselves from the coast and increase their chances of survival. The researchers added that the swimming patterns may vary between different jellyfish species and different maritime environments:

“When the strong tidal currents are dominant, it is possible that the jellyfish would swim against the current rather than against the waves, in order to reduce the risk of being swept onto the beach. In other cases, jellyfish may prefer to stay close to the coast, in inlets or estuaries. Swimming toward the open sea may not always be the first choice – the underlying objective is to reach a place where they have the best chances of survival.”

After storms, for example, large numbers of jellyfish are swept onto the beach, because they were unable to overcome the undertow created by the waves, the researchers note. The study advances our understanding of their movements, and in the future may allow us to predict when accumulations will arrive on coasts and when they will depart.

During the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year, the Suez Canal revenues hit a record-breaking $9.4 billion. Canal revenues are a key source of foreign currency for Egypt alongside tourism. Egypt should be earmarking a significant amount of these profits to helping protect the ecosystems that have been devastated. Why is no one holding Egypt accountable?

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Norway’s Ministry of Energy has presented a proposal for the announcement of the first licensing round for deep sea mining of seabed minerals on the Norwegian continental shelf for public consultation. The proposal sets out the areas where the companies will be able to apply for exploitation licenses, so that exploration and gathering knowledge about whether there is a basis for sustainable mineral exploitation on the Norwegian shelf can begin.

Deep sea mining is expected to cause irrevocable damage to sea life, deep below the surface.

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Deep sea mining is catastrophic for sea creatures, plants and their surrounding ecosystems. Knowing this Norway has still decided to go ahead with the commercial practice. Swiss-based WWF has decided to sue the Government of Norway through its Norway-based NGO WWF-Norway.

Green Prophet’s editor, biologist and environmental activist Karin Kloosterman says that “Norway of all people should have reverence for the life-sustaining seas around us. Deep sea mining for the extraction of minerals such as lithium for electric cars and batteries ruins the environment, instead of helping it.”

Norway’s modern manufacturing and welfare system rely on a financial reserve produced by exploitation of natural resources, particularly North Sea oil.

In January 2024, Norway approved commercial deep-sea mining following a study commissioned by the government concluding it would have minimal impact, reported Reuters. “We believe that a thorough process has been carried out with broad involvement, and that the applicable requirements have been followed.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It is currently based in Gland, in the canton of Vaud.

The founders were a diverse group of passionate environmentalists, including Sir Julian Huxley, Max Nicholson, Peter Scott, and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. They aimed to address the growing threats to wildlife and the environment, emphasizing the need for global conservation efforts.

WWF’s establishment in Switzerland is historically significant. Switzerland’s reputation for neutrality and stability provided an ideal base for an international organization.

Norway’s connection to WWF is also noteworthy. Norwegian environmentalist Thor Heyerdahl, known for his Kon-Tiki expedition, was among the early supporters of WWF. Norway has been active in WWF’s efforts, particularly in marine conservation and sustainable development, which is ironic given its current move to mine the sea.

More on deep sea mining

Deep sea mining for concrete

Deep sea mining and killing the seas so you can drive an electric car

Deep Sea Mining the Next Frontier for Sudan and Saudi Arabia?

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Deep sea miners want to explore faster than science can show how devastating mining for minerals on our last frontier can be.  So science is working to pick up the pace so deep sea mining will not happen without a major shift in policy and research. The latest research to come out is that deep sea mining can harm jellyfish.

Mining of the ocean floor for minerals such as lithium for electric cars could harm deep-sea jellyfish by stressing them out with sediment, suggests the first study of how resource harvesting might affect animals living in the depths. But deep sea mining for concrete is also very problematic says this architect we feature.

Researchers collected helmet jellyfish (Periphylla periphylla) and exposed them to sediment at concentrations that could be churned up by mining. After a day, the animals had mucus covering much of their bodies, among other signs that they were really not happy. Being stressed uses a lot of energy, which could be harmful over extended periods, say the researchers.

The study, co-led by Vanessa Stenvers, a marine ecologist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, analysed deep-sea helmet jellyfish collected from several Norwegian fjords where the animals regularly congregate. In testing tanks on board their research ship, Stenvers and her team exposed 43 jellyfish to five concentrations of sediment representative of what the animals could experience at a mining site, ranging from zero as a control up to 333 milligrams per litre (mg l⁻¹).

At sediment concentrations above 17 mg l⁻¹, the jellyfish showed signs of acute stress. Sediment particles stuck to the animals’ bodies, and they produced excessive amounts of mucus — a common stress response for cnidarians, the phylum to which jellyfish belong.

On average, more than 30% of the animals’ bodies were covered in mucus after being exposed to the two highest sediment concentrations for 24 hours. Producing mucus uses a lot of energy, which could be harmful for the health of jellyfish if they are exposed to sediment over extended periods, say the researchers.

“Food in the deep sea is very scarce. If there’s no extra energy coming in, this could potentially lead to starvation,” says Stenvers.

She and her colleagues also found that jellyfish doubled their respiration rate at the highest sediment concentrations, suggesting that the animals required more energy than they would otherwise need. Jellyfish that produced excessive mucus also overexpressed genes involved in energy metabolism, wound repair and the immune system.

If other gelatinous organisms in the deep ocean respond similarly, commercial harvesting of the sea floor could reduce biodiversity and threaten crucial functions of the ecosystem — such as carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling.

Let’s bookmark this research next time a lobby group springs up to support deep sea mining. 

Keep reading these resources on deep sea mining.

Marine ecosystems in danger: what is deep sea mining?

Deep sea mining and what’s at risk

The post Deep sea mining hurts jellyish appeared first on Green Prophet.

The invasive blue crabs that made their way to Tunisia from the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal were not welcome at first but since have turned into a new export. Another species of blue crab that originated in America is causing its share of problems for fisherman right now in Italy.

The Callinectes Sapidus, the blue crab, the Atlantic blue crab, or the Maryland blue crab is threatening Italy’s clam-farming and fishing industries. The Italian government has allocated about $3 million USD to fund the capture of as many blue crabs as possible.

As a past researcher on invasive species, working for CAB Biosciences in Switzerland, I am pretty certain that offering a bounty to catch these crabs will have no impact in the long run. The species, as invaders do, will only be balanced when a natural predator finds a way to keep them in check. Remember when the mayor of Hebron offered a $20 bounty for a truck of dead dogs?

At the same time, the blue crab is the fifth most popular crab in the world market. It is especially sought out in the Asian, United States and Australian markets where it is featured on the menus of many restaurants.

According to Nature, the blue crab in Italy was first observed in the Mediterranean Sea in 1949, where it was probably transported in the ballast waters of transoceanic ships.

“The colonisation took some time, it is a slow process,” says Gianluca Sarà, marine ecologist at the University of Palermo. Before invading the Po River Delta, Atlantic blue crabs have been spotted in other locations in Italy. Established populations were first detected in 2014 in the lagoon of Lesina and Varano, in Apulia.

Climate change is suspected to be one of the reasons the blue crab was able to slide into Italy from the Adriatic Sea. Researchers are now looking on how their colonisation will impact other aquatic sea life and shores.

Invasive species like the Portunus segnis from the Indian Ocean or Callinectes Sapidus, the Atlantic blue crab, lived in ecosystems that that developed over thousands, maybe millions of years. The Suez Canal changed this separation between seas fast and is the reason why the Mediterranean is over-run with jellyfish every summer, making it impossible to swim in places like Israel and Lebanon for fear of getting stung during the hottest times of the year.

Two blue crabs invade. Let’s get those crabs straight

Portunus segnis, is the scientific name for the African blue swimming crab. It is a crustacean, and a swimming crab belonging to the family Portunidae. It is native to the western Indian Ocean, but invaded the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal in Egypt. In 2015 it invaded the Gulf of Gabes, in southern Tunisia. Now the country has dozens of crab-processing plants. “At first fishers wanted this species to disappear, but now they are asking the authorities for regulations to protect it,” says one fisherman.

Another invasive blue crab, the one invading Italy currently is Callinectes sapidus, the Atlantic blue crab, or regionally known in the US as the Maryland blue crab. It is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and it is now introduced internationally. It is also known as the Chesapeake blue crab.

Global shipping industry to blame for invaders

According to The Revelator, “global shipping is moving invasive species around the world.”

They report that “in July 2021 federal agents in New Orleans abruptly ordered the 600-foot cargo ship Pan Jasmine to leave US waters. The ship, which had sailed from India, was preparing to offload goods when inspectors noticed fresh sawdust on the cargo deck and discovered non-native beetles and ants boring into wooden packaging materials. The unwelcome insects included an Asian longhorn beetle, a species that was introduced into New York 25 years ago, where it has killed thousands of trees and cost $500 million in control efforts.

“The crew of beetles aboard the Pan Jasmine is not an isolated incident. That same month bee experts north of Seattle were scouring forest edges for Asian giant hornet nests. These new arrivals, famously known as “murder hornets,” first turned up in the Pacific Northwest in 2019, also likely via cargo ship. The two-inch hornets threaten crops, bee farms and wild plants by preying on native bees. Officials discovered and destroyed three nests.

“And this past autumn Pennsylvania officials urged residents to be on the lookout for spotted lanternflies, handsome, broad-winged natives of Asia discovered in 2014 and now present in at least nine eastern states. Believed to have arrived with a shipment of stone from China, the lanternfly voraciously consumes plants and foliage, threatening everything from oak trees to vineyards.”

Can world governments agree on necessary preventative measures?

The post Blue crabs invading Italy; can Slow Food solve the problem? appeared first on Green Prophet.

He told Dezeen, “I mean, come on, it will be incredibly fascinating to have these energy-neutral but at the same time incredibly poetic landscapes.”

“In the last year I really became fond of biomimicry,” he said. Biomimicry is the imitation of natural systems to solve complex design issues. Consider Velcro, which was inspired when an engineer was removing burrs from his dog’s fur; and Olympic swimsuits that replicate the water-slicing qualities of shark skin; and new adhesives patterned after the clinging ability of gecko feet.

Roosegaarde was specifically fascinated by how animals like fireflies and deep sea creatures generate light.

“When a jellyfish is deep underwater it creates its own light,” he said, “It does not have a battery or a solar panel or an energy bill. It does it completely autonomously. What can we learn from that?” (Jellyfish use a biological compound called luciferin to emit light.)

His research led him to the State University of New York  and Alexander Krichevsky, whose technology firm Bioglow auctioned off genetically modified glow-in-the-dark plants earlier this year.

Bioglow splices DNA from luminescent marine bacteria to the chloroplast genome of a common houseplant, so the stem and leaves emit a faint light similar to that produced by jellyfish.

They’ve teamed up with a goal to create glow-in-the-dark trees. Actually more like twinkling topiary – the final product will be created from a collection of luminescent plants grouped into a tree-like shape.

Conceptually cool, but who’s looking at health and safety?

The European Union strictly regulates the use of genetically modified (GM) plants, and Roosegaarde is prohibited from using this material in his Netherlands studio; he had to travel to the US to receive his Bioglow plant.

American policy on GM substances are more lax, but building codes are not. Planning permission typically requires an environmental assessment for projects that have a public impact.  Shouldn’t the same be required when proposing to turn the trees into street lighting?

Roosegaarde is also working solo on another project called Glowing Nature which does not use GM material, but instead cultivates trees with light-emitting properties similar to those in bioluminescent mushrooms.

He proposes to apply a micro-thin coat of “biological paint” to allow trees to glow in the dark. The solar coating recharges during sunlight hours and can glow for up to eight hours at night. Material trials start later this year.

Sort of head-shaking, that one.

Phosphorescent paints have been around for ages, commercially available, and commonly used to mark emergency escape paths or paint constellations on your bedroom ceiling. They are so popular that WikiHow even offers a tutorial on how to make your own at home (link here).

So what’s Glowing Nature bringing to the table?

These flash-in-the-dark concepts need robust environmental vetting before they can be taken seriously.

The post Safely swap your streetlight for a glowing tree? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Glow-in-the-dark plants could soon light up homes, driveways, gardens and public roadways.

Light-emitting plants have been under study for the past 30 years; plants painted with dye, or injected with chemicals or juiced with ultraviolet (UV) light induce a temporary light emission.

But Bioglow’s plants are the first “autonomously luminescent” (or autoluminescent) plants that emit their own light. According to Bioglow, the plant’s light emission machinery is encoded on a cellular level allowing it to constantly emit visible light during its life cycle. Just like fireflies!

Bioglow founder Dr. Alexander Krichevsky conceived the idea while studying bioluminescence of marine bacteria and molecular biology of plants. Several years of R&D resulted in the first glowing plants, described in a 2010 article  in the international, peer-reviewed science journal PLOS One.

The first commercially available glow-plant named Starlight Avatar was unveiled in 2013 and autoluminescent plants have been offered at auction, giving everyone a chance to buy a living night-light.

Other glowing plant companies have sprouted (check out the glowing plants project on Kickstarter), but Bioglow is the movement’s pioneer.  Currently, the plants’ lifespan is about three months, but as biotechnology develops, it’s possible that the plants could act as biological night lights – renewable light sources with wide application.

Things that glow-in-the-dark fascinate. From bioluminescent plankton that sets sea afire to goofy 1960’s hippie black-light posters, to today’s luminescent paints and yarns and beads – we are suckers for shimmer.

In other (disturbing!) news – ten Chinese piglets are aglow after being injected (as embryos) with a fluorescent protein found in jellyfish. Under black light, the pigs have a greenish tint. GMO’s at their worst? Or best?

(See the video link below.)

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Last year, Turkish scientists hatched a litter of glow-in-the-dark rabbits. Researchers hope to use the technique on larger animals like sheep and cows.

How do you feel about genetic manipulation of living beings to make them “useful” to mankind?

Image of glowing plants from Bioglow

The post Would you use glowing plants or glo-pigs to replace street lamps? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Kathreen Ricketson and Robert Shugg were fatally stung by irukandji, the world’s most venomous creature.  The tragedy made more horrific as it happened in sight of their young children on shore. Ricketson was pulled from the water and, as rescuers attempted resuscitation, Shugg slipped below surface.  His body was found on shore last week.

The Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation reported irukandji jellyfish had been spotted there a month earlier, with an unprecedented number of people stung in April (13 confirmed cases, against previous records of about two cases a month).

Irukandji jellyfish measure about 2.5cm in diameter and extremely venomous. Australia does post beach signage at known areas of jellyfish infestation, but how to protect eco-tourists like Ricketson, Shugg and their 5000 Twitter followers who don’t always stick to controlled natural settings where warnings can be broadcast and beaches closed?

The family was four months into a year-long trip around Australia, documenting their travels as part of an online blog, with plans to publish a companion book titled The Family Road Trip. They lived in Canberra, where they published a kid’s e-magazine called Action Pack and Whipup.net, a leading voice in the online craft community.

Former Treehugger columnist Ricketson had used social media to promote her blog just hours before her death, linked to a jellyfish attack.  So terribly sad.  And terrifying. Short of earning a degree in marine biology, how do we stay safe in changing seas?

A trust fund has been set up for the couple’s children. Anyone wishing to contribute can find the details here.

Images of the Ricketson-Shugg family from the Action-Pack roadtrip blog; jellyfish warning sign from Shutterstock

The post Venomous Irukandji Jellyfish Kills Eco Bloggers appeared first on Green Prophet.

Every summer the surge of jellyfish seems to be getting worse and worse in the Mediterranean Sea. A new UN report says that may start seeing a future where jellyfish overtake fish in our great big seas. Ready for a jellyfish stirfry?

The new report assesses recent jellyfish blooms in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. At first it looks as though the blooms are happening where overfishing has depleted fish stocks. Turns out it’s a vicious circle likely manmade in nature.

Over-fishing removes top predators from the sea. Without top predators in place the jellyfish increase rapidly, then cause a vicious cycle where the over populating jellyfish feed wildly on juvenile fish and fish larvae.

The new report was released by the FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. 

The jellyfish problem on fish stocks was first shown in the early 1980s after the jellyfish species Mnemiopsis leidyi, from the Atlantic, was mistakingly introduced to the Black Sea, bringing the fish population to its knees. 

When an invader species Beroe ovate fed on the jellyfish the problem seemed to be resolved.

“In the past, the system could cope with episodes of jellyfish abundance, but in the case of the early 1980s blooms, the system went in another direction and is still not back to “normal” in pre-Pelagia years,” the report states.

According to the FAO report jellyfish have now become persistently abundant in almost all the oceans of the world,  and some experts actually are speaking of  “a global regime shift from a fish to a jellyfish ocean” in which  jellyfish supplant fish. 

Scary thought.

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Besides overfishing, here are some possible reasons for the shift:

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• Global warming, which enhances species that thrive at tropical latitudes.

• Eutrophication, which increases nutrients in the water.

• Widespread use of sea walls to prevent coastal erosion and the large number of tourist harbours, which make an ideal habitat for those jellyfish who go through a stage as polyps in their early lives.

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Seas with a bounty of jellyfish? If you missed it, you can catch our recipe for jellyfish stir fry here.

The post World Sees Scary Transition to Seas Full of Jellyfish, Not Fish appeared first on Green Prophet.

Nice try, but there are no culinary awards for stir-fried jellyfish just yet. Still, if you want to cook it, here’s a method from the food blog Ptitim (Hebrew), written by a cook who goes only by “Gal.”

With all the delicious food available in Israel, why cook jellyfish? It seems that Gal got fed up with the seasonal jellyfish invasion that makes the beach impossible and decided to turn the pest into something tasty.

“Time to take revenge!” he writes, adding wryly, “But before you start rolling your eyes, look at the bright side. One less jellyfish in the sea!”

With the swarms of jellyfish making life hard for Middle-Eastern beach-lovers, I suppose you could call it a sustainable crop. And Gal’s recipe has 1,500 “likes” on Facebook so far. Maybe its popularity is due to the cook’s humor, like the comment on one of his photos: “We don’t say eeeuw to good food!”

In spite of the light tone, Gal took his jellyfish seriously. He researched the correct type (apparently not all jellyfish are alike edible). Wearing heavy rubber gloves to avoid getting stung, he gathered a few fresh ones from a nearby beach. Surprisingly, he says that each weighs about as much as a small watermelon.

He washed his catch repeatedly in very hot water, which deactivates the stinging toxins, then again in cold. Chopping the inedible tentacles away, he touched the meat to test for sting. No sting, so he tasted a little of the raw jellyfish.

“Tasteless,” he commented, “with a texture like flip-flops.”

Hoping to improve the taste, he chopped the flesh into strips and put them in a marinade of soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili for half an hour. Gal then stir-fried the strips for one minute and set them aside on a paper towel to drain. An Asiatic mixture of mushrooms and vegetables went into the wok and the jellyfish was added.

Mixed with soba noodles, the dish actually looks pretty good. (Even if you don’t read Hebrew, it’s worth looking at all the photos on the blog). Some of them are posted below.

Gal took a deep breath and tasted.

“The jellyfish has no flavor at all. All you taste is the other ingredients. And the texture is still like rubber tires.”

Was it worth the bother?

“It was worth it for the culinary experience,” writes Gal. “Next time, calamari!”

More on jellyfish from Green Prophet:

• Tips Against Jellyfish Invasions
• New Jellyfish Species Tells of Global Warming
• Corals Feeding on Jellyfish: Adaption To Climate Change?

Photos of jellyfish stir-fry by Gal.

The post Jellyfish Stir Fry? An Adventure in Sustainable Cooking appeared first on Green Prophet.