News

Portuguese Man-O-War in the Irish Sea

The last few months have seen unprecedented numbers of the highly venomous Portuguese Man-O-War (a colonial jellyfish) washing up on the Welsh and Irish coasts of the Irish Sea. Normally associated with warmer waters of the Gulf Stream, these jellyfish were probably blown into our coastal waters and shores as a result of the above normal winds experienced during July and August of this year.

However, it is not unusual to see a Portuguese Man-O-War in our coastal seas, as there are many historical records dating back to early 1900s. What is unusual is to see lots of them in the Irish Sea. Most records of the Portuguese Man-O-War are from the west coast of Ireland. If you see a Portuguese Man-O-War don’t touch it! They have a very powerful sting and should be avoided. However, please let us know if you have seen one by using our online jellyfish sighting scheme.

See to the left one of the most recent sighting of a Portuguese Man-O-War. It was found by Richard O’Brien and his family (Laura and Daniel) on a rocky beach at the end of the Rush Peninsula, Dublin, during early November.

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Irish Sea cruises.

During June 10-22nd, several members of the EcoJel team enjoyed some great weather in the Irish Sea onboard the Marine Institute's Research Vessel 'Celtic Voyager'.

One of the major objectives of this Irish Sea cruise was to investigate the abundance and distribution of jellyfish using large 'jellyfish' nets and underwater cameras.

Large aggregations of the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) were found throughout, with >600 jellyfish caught in one 10 minute net tow (equivalent of 70kg) (see image). It appears to be a bumper year for the moon jellyfish while other species such as the compass (Chrysaora hysoscella) were extremely difficult to find. The team is now back on land and investigating the results.

Prior to this cruise another EcoJel team member was investigating abundance of jellyfish onboard Northern Ireland’s Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute’s (AFBI) Research Vessel ‘Corystes’. Importantly, this research was conducted at the same time as the juvenile gadoid survey enabling the EcoJel team to investigate the potential impact (both negative and positive) jellyfish may have on juvenile fish.

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Successful tagging of jellyfish

Following a successful flight at the weekend and armed with the knowledge of the jellyfish locations, the team set out to tag 31 barrel jellyfish in Carmarthen Bay. With the help of Gower Coast Adventures (www.gowercoastadventures.co.uk) all tags were successfully deployed, the biggest jellyfish measured 80cm across the bell!

The tags will provide information about the vertical movements and environment the jellyfish are living in. The tags will improve our understanding of the life history of Rhizostoma octopus species. Please keep your eyes peeled for the tags (see pictures), which might wash up on a beach near you any day!

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Up, up and away...

Three members of the EcoJel team flew over the Welsh coastline and Rosslare Harbour in south east Ireland last Saturday to look for jellyfish.

They team spotted huge blooms of the barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus) near Aberystwyth as well as a basking shark and several porpoises.

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New EcoJel Website

It may be hard to believe, but jellyfish are so important that we have dedicated an entire website to them. So welcome to our jellyfish website!

Over the coming months we will have regular updates about our project and its various objectives. For now, there are plenty of pages to check out but importantly, we will welcome any feedback and suggestions via our 'contact page'. As we move closer to the summer months, we will keep you posted on our activities and how you can help us learn more about jellyfish.

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