Are Jellyfish Taking Over the World?

Deadly sea creatures are taking over. 

In the Philippines, they jammed the pipes of a power plant. This caused millions of people to lose electricity. In Australia, they stopped a U.S. Navy ship. The ship was built to fight mighty battles—but it was no match for these scary beasts. And near Ireland, the creatures went after a group of salmon. When the attack was finished, 100,000 fish were dead.

What are these terrifying monsters? A gang of great white sharks? An army of angry killer whales? Nope. These fearsome creatures are   . . . jellyfish.

Deadly sea creatures are taking over. In the Philippines, they jammed the pipes of a power station. This caused millions of people to lose electricity. In Australia, they stopped a U.S. Navy ship. The ship was built to fight large battles. But it was no match for these scary animals. And near Ireland, the creatures went after a group of salmon. The attack killed 100,000 fish.

What are these terrifying monsters? A gang of great white sharks? An army of angry killer whales? Nope.  These boneless bags of goo are causing problems across the planet. 

These fearsome animals are

. . . jellyfish.

Deadly sea creatures are taking over. 

They caused millions of people to lose electricity. They killed thousands of salmon during one attack. 

What are these scary monsters? Great white sharks? Angry killer whales? Nope. These creatures are . . . jellyfish.

Jellyfish are often called jellies. They have lived on Earth for millions of years. They’re even older than the dinosaurs! They can be found in every part of the ocean. You can find them in shallow beach waves and deep below the sea.  

There are thousands of different types of jellyfish. They come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes. The creeping jellyfish can be smaller than a grain of sand. The lion’s mane jellyfish is bigger than a car. Many types of jellyfish even glow in the dark!  

But jellyfish aren’t actually fish. They’re invertebrates (in-VEHR-tuh-brayts). That means they have no backbones. In fact, jellyfish don’t have any bones at all. They don’t have brains, teeth, or blood either. 

They do have muscles though. The creatures can squeeze and relax these muscles. They do this to swim.

And right now, these strange swimmers rule the ocean. Thousands of them have washed onto Australian shores. Millions of them have taken over Japanese waters. They’ve even shut down beaches. It’s a population explosion that has some people wondering: Why are there so many jellyfish in our oceans?

But aren’t jellyfish brainless bags of goo? Why do we care if there are more jellyfish in the ocean? Well, these blobs can cause a lot of problems.

Many power plants have pipes that go into the ocean. Jellyfish can get caught in the pipes and clog them. That can cause the plants to shut down. This is what happened in the Philippines. Lights shut off. Fridges stopped cooling food. TVs wouldn’t turn on. People didn’t have electricity for hours, all because of jellyfish.

And remember that U.S. Navy ship in Australia? Something similar happened there. Jellies got caught in the ship’s pipes. This caused the ship to shut down. Thousands of sailors had to leave the boat.

These creepy creatures can also be a danger to fish—and people like you. Jellyfish have tentacles. The tentacles are covered with thousands of pointy stingers. These stingers shoot poison when they touch another creature. This sting can stun fish or kill them. That’s what happened to the salmon in Ireland. Luckily for us, most jellyfish stings aren’t deadly to humans. But they can still hurt and leave painful red marks on our skin. Jellyfish sting about 150 million people around the world each year.

So how can we stop the jellyfish from taking over? Scientists say we should take better care of the oceans. Then the number of jellies may drop on its own. But some people have found a creative answer that we can try right now. It’s something everyone can do: Eat a jellyfish snack!

Chefs and food scientists are making recipes that turn jellyfish into delicious meals. In China, jellyfish salads are a popular dish. Scientists in Denmark make jellyfish chips. In Japan, you can order sweet jellyfish ice cream. One scientist in Italy even served a jellyfish cake at her wedding!

As a bonus, jellyfish are good for you. A handful of jellyfish chips is healthier than a handful of potato chips. Jellyfish chips are rich in protein and don’t have any fat. 

Right now, people eat less than 500,000 tons of jellies a year. That’s not much compared with the 100 million tons of fish we eat. 

But experts think that jellyfish will become a popular food in the future. After all, turning jellies into treats is healthy for humans. And it’s good for our oceans. Someday soon, jellies might be on the menu at a restaurant near you. Would you eat a jellyfish for dinner?

So how can we stop the jellyfish from taking over? There’s something all of us can do. We can eat food made out of jellyfish! Chefs are inventing fun recipes. People eat jellyfish salads, crispy jellyfish chips, and even jellyfish ice cream. 

Jellyfish are good for you. They have a lot of protein and no fat. Pretty soon, jellies might be on a menu near you. Would you eat a jellyfish for dinner?