Invasive marine animal depletes ecosystems… and eats its young! Sea Walnut (Mnemiopsis leidyi)
Seascovery
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1,195 views Sep 22, 2022 #ocean #sea #seawalnut
The sea walnuts / warty comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) are invasive species of ctenophores that pose a serious threat to marine European ecosystems and the European economy. When prey is scarce, scientists found that it can consume its extra young!
For more information, visit: seascovery.org
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Credits:
Writer, editor, narrator: Roqaya Heedar
Scientific advisor and producer: Dr. Diego Ibarra
Music: TeknoAXE's Royalty Free Music – Summer Time Adventures (Orchestra/Comedy) (Link: • Springtime Adventure - Orchestra/Comedy - ... )
References:
R1 https://qz.com/793020/invasive-comb-j...
R2 https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...
R3 https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/4...
R4 https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onl...
#seawalnut #wartycombjelly #ctenophore #ocean #sea #seascovery
Transcript
ever heard people say that sometimes the
most beautiful things in nature are
dangerous
well they weren't kidding there is a
marine animal species that's not only
invasive but also depletes the ecosystem
of some important elements and eats its
young if it has to this beautiful
bioluminescent creature is the wordy
comb jelly another common name for it is
the sea Walnut and there's also the
American comb jelly
cone jellies are not jellyfish as some
might think but actually tinofores
instead of having stinging cells they
have adhesive cells that the prey would
stick to called coloblasts the maximum
length of wordy comb jellies ranges from
3.9 inches to 4.7 inches that's around
the size of two baseballs
wordy comb jellies were originally found
around the Atlantic coasts of North and
South America but because of their
invasive nature they've also been cited
in European Waters and the coasts of
Syria and Iran
in general this species prefers Coastal
salt water habitats in bays and asteroid
rotations
pretty often it is found in brackish
water that has a low level of oxygen and
is high in pollution it actually prefers
near surface water
recently the species of sea walnuts has
been causing some major economic and
environmental damage especially in the
European Waters the unintentional
introduction of the American comb jelly
into the Caspian Sea brought a
catastrophic effect on the ecosystem in
the Adriatic and Baltic Seas they're
constantly just bleeding the supplies of
Plankton in addition to the eggs and
larvaea fish namely anchovies
so much so that they've caused European
Fisheries over 300 million US dollars
the reason is most likely their ability
to self-fertilize which allows quick
reproduction and the creation of a whole
new non-native population with their
High reproduction rate and their huge
appetite for zooplankton they've earned
a place on the list of the world's 100
most invasive species and the thing is
this species has nothing to worry about
if prey is ever scarce recent Studies
have found that in severe conditions the
warty comb jelly survived by producing
extra Offspring and then consuming them
sheesh and now you know that these
fascinating transparent marine animals
are getting the attention of Europe
because they're wreaking havoc on
economy and European Waters ecosystems
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