Jellyfish bloom reported for the first time off coast of Visakhapatnam, India

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A bloom of jellyfish has been reported off the Visakhapatnam coast for the first time. , a survey vessel attached to the Vizag base of the Fishery Survey of India (FSI), has reported a bloom of jellyfish around 60 nautical miles off Visakhapatnam.

The vessel was carrying out a demersal (near the seabed) fishery resource survey in the area and researchers were surprised that 500 kg of jellyfish was caught in a single haul from a single-patch area at a depth of 40m. They say this is an indication of their abundance in the area.

The jellyfish found off was identified as Crambionella stuhlmanni, which causes skin rashes if touched. There are many species of jellyfish, which are venomous and its sting considered dangerous. World over, jellyfish blooms have caused power plant outages, destroyed the fishing-industry and damaged the beaches of holiday destinations.

"Jellyfish bloom is an indication of coastal eutrophication, overfishing and ecosystem degradation. Blooming of jellyfish results in clogging of fishing nets and thereby causes interference to fishery.

We observed that these jellyfish are laying thousands of eggs and live as a colony. The recent bloom could be due to an underwater drift and other oceanic changes due to natural calamities like Cyclone Hudhud etc. They breed in large numbers, sometimes in thousands," said senior scientific assistant at FSI, Vizag A. Siva, who was part of the voyage.

He said an in-depth study is the needed to understand the causes of the jellyfish bloom and its effect on the coastal fishery of India.