Bigger jellyfish are inheriting the ocean, study finds
Bodies bloat with water as competitors are wiped out by fishing, habitat destruction
Miguel Llanos
msnbc.com
updated 9/15/2011 2:33:47 PM ET
Will jellyfish inherit the Earth, or at least the oceans?
A study released Thursday found that the spineless creatures are becoming the dominant predator in areas where fish species are being reduced by overfishing and habitat destruction.
It's not just that reduced competition is giving the jellyfish more room. The jellyfish themselves are evolving into bigger specimens by increasing the water content in their gels, the study concluded.
Since jellyfish don't swim much, they mostly float, that larger mass gives them much better chances of floating into their prey — as well as into other jellyfish for sexual reproduction.
Because of that evolutionary trait, jellyfish have similar potential for growth and reproduction as their fish competitors, the researchers found.
"To achieve this production, they have evolved large, water-laden bodies that increase prey contact rates," the researchers wrote in a study titled: "Faking Giants: The Evolution of High Prey Clearance Rates in Jellyfish."
"While fish developed visual acuity to detect prey, jellyfish depend on a primitive system based on direct contact with prey," noted study co-author Angel Lopez-Urrutia of Spain's Oviedo University. "The key to their success is that by increasing their body size they displace more water and drag more prey toward their tentacles. It's an effective strategy as long as the swimming pace of jellyfish is sufficiently slow."
Unless overfishing is curbed and habitat restored, the authors wrote, the findings suggest "a future 'gelatinous' ocean reminiscent of the early Ediacaran" Period some 600 million years ago.
...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44523885/ns ... vironment/