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Report
Abundance of jellylike salps on Tasmania’s beaches
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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12/12/2024
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.
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00:00
These creatures have been appearing all around Tasmania's southeastern coast.
00:08
They're not jellyfish, but a type of zooplankton called salps.
00:13
I've just never seen or heard of anything like this anywhere near here.
00:18
I mean, this is epic.
00:20
They don't sting and are quick to multiply.
00:23
Because salps can grow up to 10% of their body length per hour,
00:30
and they go through two generations in a day.
00:33
So, like, if one is born at, like, right now,
00:37
12 hours from now it's going to be a parent,
00:39
and in 12 more hours it's going to be a grandparent.
00:42
Salps pop up every year or so, but rarely in these numbers.
00:47
Aquaculture, agriculture,
00:49
all these sources that are putting nutrients in the water,
00:53
it reaches, shall we say, a tipping point.
00:56
And I think that's what we're seeing is this tipping point
00:59
that's driving phytoplankton or plant plankton
01:03
to bloom into these super abundances,
01:06
and then the salps are consuming the phytoplankton.
01:10
But there's a dark side.
01:12
Salps store toxins if they're feeding in polluted waters.
01:17
When something eats them,
01:19
then that animal basically gets a toxic bullet
01:23
because it's taking on all the toxins
01:26
that are stored in the tissues of the salp.
01:28
We've seen many, many, like, you know, dolphin strandings
01:32
where the dolphins' guts are full of salps,
01:35
and we've seen fish kills, massive fish kills.
01:38
The salps won't be around for long,
01:40
as the blooms only last a few weeks.
01:43
But beachgoers might want to prepare
01:45
the jellyfish that can sting you,
01:47
which are known to flourish after salps have been in the area.
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