A picture burned into the mind: the beautiful side of the jellyfish on the shores of Israel

Along with the spectacular images, jellyfish are in fact the only animal that adversely affects all types of system services that man produces from the sea - they harm tourism, the fabric of marine food and fish and fishing.

The School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa has been researching jellyfish for about ten years, and now answers all the troubling questions.

Eli Ashkenazi

19/07/2022

Tuesday, 19 July 2022, 16:48 Updated: 22:02

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Summer is in full swing and the shores of Israel have begun to fill with swarms of giant jellyfish.

Apart from the spectacular pictures of the phenomenon, it can be said that most of the time the effect of the jellyfish on the person is not positive and amounts to painful burns.

Jellyfish are the only animal that adversely affects all types of system services that man produces from the sea - they harm tourism by removing bathers from the sea and the coast, they harm the entire marine food web because they prey on plankton and "cleanse the sea of ​​food", thus harming fish and fishing.

In addition, they damage critical infrastructure for the economy, such as desalination plants and power plants, by clogging the pump openings.

The team in the laboratory of Dr. Dror Angel at the Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa has been researching jellyfish for about ten years. The jellyfish are a nuisance to a resource. "In the project, we, the researchers, receive reports from the public on jellyfish sightings (on the website www.meduzot.co.il), process the information and draw a map for the people of Israel showing where the jellyfish are in real time," he said.

"Wise Marine, if you will. In the general public of reporters, we designate a special place for seafarers - 'Gold Reporters'. The reports of the group members receive a double score in the database, and are used by us to verify and validate the observations of the general public. In the near future we plan to upgrade the site to a widget and expand the group of gold reporters In time and space to complete the picture. "

Swarm of jellyfish off the coast of Israel, today (Photo: Official website, Nature and Parks Authority)

What jellyfish do we see?

"The main jellyfish, both in summer and winter, is the migratory wire - large, white and stinging. More than 90 percent of the reports are of wires. However, as in 2015, this year the summer swarm was also involved. "Beautiful, pinkish-pink orchids and jellyfish are found (which are not found at all). As part of our project, we will soon change the Hebrew name of the jellyfish, which is in collaboration with the Hebrew Language Academy, and in general the jellyfish species will be sorted out."

Swarm of jellyfish off the coast of Israel, today (Photo: Official website, Nature and Parks Authority)

How not to get burned

"First of all go to the site and find out if your beach is flooded with jellyfish. If so, make it easy to take a surfing suit or lycra or jellyfish sunscreen to protect your skin, and a diving mask or swimming goggles so you can see them approaching. Don't forget to report us when you go out, even If you have not seen jellyfish ("No jellyfish" reports are very important to us for validation). "In the case of wire burns, and in the meantime we recommend avoiding it. Of course, urine, rubbing sand and other grandmother's remedies do not help and may even aggravate the injury."

More on Walla!

Jellyfish Burning: How is it treated and what is absolutely forbidden?

To the full article

Swarm of jellyfish off the coast of Israel, today (Photo: Official website, Nature and Parks Authority)

Jellyfish clean, stir and filter the sea

"They are used as food for fish and sea turtles and are a habitat for small fish and crabs, they transfer carbon from the upper water to the bottom, and some even do photosynthesis. Humans make food from them (from salads to cookies), medicines and dressings, compost, nutritional supplements, etc. Our team "At the University of Haifa, together with Braude College in Karmiel, he is participating in the EU's GoJelly project, in which we are investigating the ability of the mucus to adsorb the mucus particles in order to filter microplastics from the water in sewage treatment facilities."

Swarm of jellyfish off the coast of Israel, today (Photo: Official website, Nature and Parks Authority)

What can be done with the jellyfish?

"Indeed, jellyfish can be fished, and the Chinese have even managed to over-fish jellyfish

in the South China Sea, but before running to get rid of them one has to ask if anything worse could come in if we succeed in the mission.

(But it's just average.) In 2015 they arrived in May and stayed for three months. In 2016 we went through a whole year without swarms of jellyfish. "Two weeks late and left until the beginning of August.

Today we also know that large winter swarms arrive in our area from January to March, and the details in them are larger (reaching up to a bell diameter of 90 cm)".

Swarm of jellyfish off the coast of Israel, today (Photo: Official website, Nature and Parks Authority)

And one last word on the environment

"Many things humans have done and are doing are helping to spread jellyfish on our shores, such as digging the Suez Canal, polluting the sea with sewage, climate change, harming jellyfish's competitors and predators (fish and sea turtles), and dispersing solid waste (ground-level jellyfish jellyfish, especially plastic as a settlement substrate). "Another good reason to keep our seas and beaches clean."

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