Essay Sample on Jellyfish

Why are jellyfish so beautiful, yet so dangerous? They can clone themselves and glow in the dark. Also, jellyfish are born without a brain. Jellyfish are affecting the marine ecosystem as they are clogging power plants, fishing industries are going out of business, and they are affecting many communities worldwide. 

First of all, jellyfish are causing ecological and industrial issues. In fact, jellyfish are clogging power plants. According to sciencebuzz.com, “On October 21, 2008, smacks of Aurelia labiata, a species of moon jellies, were sucked into the cooling water system of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, shutting down the power plant for three days. Millions of dollars were lost due to this incident (Gershwin, 2013).” To continue, jellyfish are causing fishing industries to go out of business. The increasing amount of jellyfish is causing parasite transmission and competition for food. Also, fishermen are catching mostly jellyfish rather than everyday fishing meals that contribute to the community. Jellyfish are having a big impact on the community and affecting everyone within it. 

Secondly, jellyfish are beginning to cause problems within a community. To support this, people are losing electricity in certain areas due to jellyfish. In 1999, the northern half of the Philippines was in the dark when jellyfish took over the main power station. Even further, jellyfish are causing a delay in the fishing process. As stated by Joong Lee, “The slime from the jellyfish causes delay in the fishing process because the gear needs to be cleaned. The water-filled medusae are extremely heavy in dense numbers, ripping the fishing nets (Moffett, 2007).” Jellyfish are a perfect example of something so harmless to humans directly, yet they have a huge impact on the world.  

To continue, anything that causes a problem must have a solution but, what about the jellyfish? To begin, new groups have been capturing and harvesting jellyfish to create new opportunities. According to a website article, “The increase in jellyfish numbers could be an industrial opportunity. New research suggests a method of turning proteins into ethanol alcohol as well as carbohydrates and lipids (Hsieh et al., 2001). These components are the fundamental parts of most cells with additional small percentages of other elements. With this new technology we could turn jellyfish blooms into a valuable resource and an economic opportunity.” Another idea is to introduce a new predator to the jellyfish. Jellyfishes main predators are shark, tuna, and swordfish. Introducing a new predator should bring about a 20-30% decrease in the jellyfish population. Jellyfish are creating quite the challenge.  

All things considered, the jellyfish situation is an issue, but changes can be made to stop them. Jellyfish are clogging power plants. The fishing industries are going out of business. Finally, they are affecting communities worldwide. The people can take action to take these little creatures down, but first they need to come up with solutions. Once they have that, the battle is over, and the winner is clear!