Abundance of jellylike salps on Tasmania’s beaches

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tasmanian scientists are in awe of massive amount of jellylike creatures that are filling up beaches around southern and eastern Tasmania.  But the abundance of these gelatinous like animals could have a negative impact on the surrounding ecosystem.

Transcript

00:00These creatures have been appearing all around Tasmania's southeastern coast.

00:08They're not jellyfish, but a type of zooplankton called salps.

00:13I've just never seen or heard of anything like this anywhere near here.

00:18I mean, this is epic.

00:20They don't sting and are quick to multiply.

00:23Because salps can grow up to 10% of their body length per hour,

00:30and they go through two generations in a day.

00:33So, like, if one is born at, like, right now,

00:3712 hours from now it's going to be a parent,

00:39and in 12 more hours it's going to be a grandparent.

00:42Salps pop up every year or so, but rarely in these numbers.

00:47Aquaculture, agriculture,

00:49all these sources that are putting nutrients in the water,

00:53it reaches, shall we say, a tipping point.

00:56And I think that's what we're seeing is this tipping point

00:59that's driving phytoplankton or plant plankton

01:03to bloom into these super abundances,

01:06and then the salps are consuming the phytoplankton.

01:10But there's a dark side.

01:12Salps store toxins if they're feeding in polluted waters.

01:17When something eats them,

01:19then that animal basically gets a toxic bullet

01:23because it's taking on all the toxins

01:26that are stored in the tissues of the salp.

01:28We've seen many, many, like, you know, dolphin strandings

01:32where the dolphins' guts are full of salps,

01:35and we've seen fish kills, massive fish kills.

01:38The salps won't be around for long,

01:40as the blooms only last a few weeks.

01:43But beachgoers might want to prepare

01:45the jellyfish that can sting you,

01:47which are known to flourish after salps have been in the area.

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