In recent years, since the Fukushima nuclear power plant leak in Japan, there have been a large number of concentrated deaths of marine life in many parts of Japan. Recently, according to Japanese media, since April, a large number of sail jellyfish have appeared off the coast of Amami Oshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
Experts said that sail jellyfish look very beautiful, but the toxicity is strong, after being stung two or three times or anaphylactic shock, it is recommended that everyone do not touch them. So, what exactly is the sail jellyfish? How harmful is it?
Poisonous creatures - sail jellyfish
The sail jellyfish, also known as downwind sailors, are named after having a spinnaker board, which can continuously drift with the sea breeze and tides.
It is reported that each sail jellyfish is about 7~10 cm long, the body is blue, mainly inflatable floating on the water surface, belongs to marine plankton. Jellyfish pouches are hard chitinous, oval in shape, and up to 8 cm in diameter.
The sail jellyfish is a close relative of the jellyfish, and it is like the jellyfish, which has thorns and feeds on its prey. It's just that the lifestyle of sail jellyfish and jellyfish is a bit different, sail jellyfish belong to floating marine animals, while jellyfish are invertebrate zooplankton. Underneath the sail jellyfish are tentacles with spiny cells, genitals, and vegetative bodies (feeding and digestive organs).
It is understood that sail jellyfish are highly polymorphic, often swimming freely or floating collectively, in the ocean, sail jellyfish as small as 4 mm, as large as 8 cm. And their lifestyle is relatively simple, stinging zooplankton with stinging cells and feeding on them.
The reproduction of sail jellyfish is also very special, although daily life floats on the surface of the water, but the reproduction of sail jellyfish will sink to more than 2,000 meters below sea level to grow and develop, and lay eggs and sperm, and the entire fertilization process is carried out in the dark deep sea.
It is known that sail jellyfish is a highly toxic creature. If you touch them in time or that one, you will not feel pain from the stabbing of the hand, and if you rub your eyes with your hand or touch other sensitive parts, you will feel a tingling pain, which can cause severe shock.
What does the large number of sail jellyfish on Japanese beaches suggest?
Many people are now a little "allergic" to Japan, as long as a large number of marine life gathers will first think of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge, Japanese pollution and a series of other problems, then, a large number of sail jellyfish on Japanese beaches, is it related to Japanese nuclear wastewater?
Apparently it does not matter, according to experts, it is not uncommon for sail jellyfish to run aground, there is a certain pattern, it appears every 3-6 years. So, what exactly causes sail jellyfish to gather?
First, sea and land wind, affected by the special environment of the earth, the sea and land have the characteristics of sea and land wind, so that the wind in the ocean has convection phenomenon.
The so-called sea and land wind is that the specific heat of the land is less than that of the ocean, and when the day warms up, the land warms up faster than the ocean, forming updrafts on land, sinking downdrafts in the oceans, forming low pressure near the ground on land, forming high pressure near the ground in the ocean, and sea breeze blowing from the ocean to the land near the ground.
Second, the impact of typhoon, typhoon is a kind of tropical cyclone, a low-pressure vortex that occurs on the surface of the tropical or subtropical ocean, because the typhoon involves a very wide area, the impact range is large, and the wind direction in other regions will have a certain impact.
Third, warm currents, because sail jellyfish is a famous indicator species of warm currents, living in warm and temperate waters of the world's oceans. It is mainly distributed in Japan, the Philippines and the southeast coast of China.
summary
It is very normal for a large number of sail jellyfish to appear on Japanese beaches, so please do not panic, and if you find it, do not touch it to avoid causing harm to yourself.