 |
A
Jellyfish from 'down under' off Shikmona - the Australian spotted
jellyfish Phyllorhiza punctata
Dr. Bella Galil, Israel Oceanographic
& Limnological Research
A large strange jellyfish was observed in a
rock pool near Shikmona vermetid reef. It turned out to be an old
acquaintance - the Australian spotted jellyfish Phyllorhiza
punctata
- the previous record from the Israeli coast dates to
1965.
photo: Sima Usvyatsov
|
 | Alien jellyfish gained notoriety off the
Israeli coast since the mass swarms of the nomadic jellyfish,
Rhopilema nomadica, appeared in the early 1980s. The
Australian spotted jellyfish is an invasive species that was likely
introduced into the Atlantic from the Pacific Ocean through the
Panama Canal half a century ago in ship fouling. In 2000 the species
formed a massive bloom in the Gulf of Mexico that disrupted
fisheries by clogging of netting, causing millions of dollars in
economic losses. Shipping is widely believed to be the primary
vector for marine bioinvasions, and
the wide dispersal of the species may be attributable to
the transport of their sessile polyp (scyphistoma). The extensive shipping traffic
between the Gulf ports and Israel increases the potential that the jellyfish
populations there are the source of our specimen, rather than the more distant
populations in Australia.
|
|
© All rights reserved to Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Ltd
|
|
|