What's happenning to jellyfish on the West Coast?

[averagejoe]

Billions Of Jellyfish-Like Creatures Are Mysteriously Washing Ashore Along The West Coast

Billions of jellyfish-like creatures have washed up on numerous beaches on the West Coast, baffling scientists and locals alike.

Beaches all the way from San Diego to British Columbia are now covered in a mysterious species of fish known as “by the wind sailors,” or their scientific name, velella velella.

Not much is known about these four-inch fish distinguished by a gas-filled fin, which tells us that wherever they travel is entirely dependent on the wind and currents, Daily Mail reports.

They are very similar to jellyfish, both in looks and the way they sting their prey, though their stingers are too weak to penetrate human skin.

Their diet consists of only plankton and they regularly travel by the million.

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/billio ... st/723986/

http://www.news.com.au/technology/scien ... 7034233043

http://oceanbeachbulletin.com/2010/11/1 ... ean-beach/

[GordonH]

This could be the answer your looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)

[vinnied]

Or of course theres also the fact that fukashima still leaks 3 to 400 tons of radioactive water into the ocean everyday, and believe it or not, isotopes like strontium, make it into the food chain, and are concentrated in stuff like algae, then passed on to the next, and so on and so forth. That may have something to do with it. Tepcos solution.. an ice wall??. Guess what. , FAIL, yep ground is just to hot, dumb idea didnt work. What a mess

[averagejoe]

Stories of disappearance of Sardines on the West Coast...

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Sudd ... story.html

[averagejoe]

Starfish disappearing on West Coast...

Mystery as MILLIONS of starfish wash up dead on west coast

Scientists started noticing the mass deaths in June of 2013
Both wild starfish and those in captivity have been affected by the mysterious phenomenon
Entire populations have been wiped out in Puget Sound

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... coast.html

[Gotit]

How on Gods ravaged earth can anyone be BAFFLED by the never ending wanton death and destruction!?

[Fancy]

They normally live several miles off the coast, and once they wash ashore, they die and decompose, becoming cellophane-like.

The National Geographic said experts have been trying to explain the cause of such "blooms".

Possible reasons range from ocean currents and winds to over-fishing, which deprives jellyfish of some of their favourite foods, it said.

http://news.sky.com/story/1323036/jelly ... west-coast

"This happens every few years, where they get blown onto the beaches," said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer also stationed at NOAA Fisheries' Newport lab. In 2009 or 2010, the beach had piles of the creatures 2-feet to 3-feet (60 to 90 cm) thick, and "it stunk like heaven," Peterson told Live Science.

The animals can be found all over the world, but they mostly live in tropical or subtropical waters, Peterson said. They like warm water, which has recently been pooling off the Oregon and California coasts, he said. When you get warm water combined with storms, that's when the creatures blow ashore.

http://www.livescience.com/47159-sailin ... shore.html

http://www.newsweek.com/pacific-starfis ... ope-271864

[GordonH]

Maybe look into Anoxic Event, its much bigger version of dead zones. Happens opposite of ice age.