Few jellyfish this summer – scientists do not know where they are

Jellyfish: Tor Andre Johannessen / SCANPIX

Swimmers can rejoice over the few jellyfish along Norwegian beaches this summer. The researchers are unsure why there are so few jellyfish.

 

“We know too little about them, but the observations we have, our own and from the others, show there have been very few of them this summer,” said researcher, Tone Falkenhaug at the Institute of Marine Research to Nettavisen newspaper.

The jellyfish usually appear in April-May and spread rapidly throughout the summer before they die in the winter.

Falkenhaug said that they have no good explanation as to why there are few this year.

“We do not know, because they are a field that is little researched.We also have no surveillance of the jellyfish, so we really do not know where they are. What we know is that there are naturally large variations.The population may vary greatly from year to year. Conditions can have a large affect, the heat and how winter has been,’’ said Falkenhaug.

Professor Stein Kartvedt at the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo, nevertheless, has a theory.

“The common explanation is that the jellyfish pull out into deeper water when it’s very hot weather, but it’s just one of many explanations as to why there are few jellyfish this year,” he told Tønsbergs Blad newspaper.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today