Vital Caspian Graphics - Challenges Beyond Caviar

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| | | | | Caspian: Invasion of killer jellyfish threatens fish stocks JOURNALIST STORY Antoine Blua, a EurasiaNet partner post from RFE/RL, 7 March 2004 04 |||| When an animal species suddenly appears in a new environment, the consequences can be grim. While some species may quickly die off, others thrive in their new surroundings, often to the point of posing a threat to the existing ecological order. Such is the case with Mnemiopsis leidyi, a fist-sized jellyfish that has spent the last decade menacing the waters of the Caspian Sea. Also known as Leidy’s comb jelly, this organism’s arrival has caused the Caspian’s fish stocks to plummet, affecting the livelihoods of many local fishermen. Zari Rustamov is from the village of Nardaran on Azerbaijan’s Apsheron peninsula. He said his catches of sprats (kilki) have dwindled in the years since the comb jelly first made an appearance. He said the jellyfish “is small [and transparent], like water. We didn’t have this thing before. Sometimes you look at the water, you reach out and your hands are full of them. And when it’s there, there are no fish. Fish avoid getting close to them.” The watery invader has a voracious appetite, devouring much of the Caspian plankton that provides the sprats’ main sustenance. Furthermore, Mnemiopsis reproduces at an alarming rate. It can double its size in a single day, reach maturity within two weeks, and then lay as many as 1,200 eggs a day for as long as several months. ||| | | | | ||| ||| ||

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