Jellyfish replacing fish in over-exploited areas
Friday, September 16, 2011 - 05:00
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- Over-fished commercial stocks of plankton-eating fish have been replaced in several locations by jellyfish species. This appears to be something of a paradox because fish move quickly and can see their prey, which suggests their capture of prey should be much more efficient than for jellyfish that move slowly and have to make contact with their prey to know they are present. Now a team of scientists in Spain and the US have discovered he jellyfishes' success is partly based on their large body size and its energy efficiency.