Download Sample Journal Entry

Biology, Zoology and Marine Science
Mrs. Stahl
 Jellyfish
as Monitors of Ocean
Health
 Marine
Science Text

Ask yourself- what do I know about jellies?
They are mushy and gooey
 They sting
 They have tentacles
 There are many species
 The box jelly is the most dangerous one
 They are clear / transparent


Page 549 in your textbook





1. Increased population of jellyfish in our
world’s oceans
2. Overpopulated because of pollution,
global warming (increased water temps),
overfishing, and oxygen depletion.
3. They are taking over our oceans.
4. Nothing eats them
5. They could possibly deplete our
plankton and effect ecotourism.

This article relates to Marine Science because
jellyfish are one of millions of creatures that are
studied in our worlds oceans. They affect the
ocean food web by eating large quantities of
plankton which is the basis of our ocean food
web. If they continue to overpower our oceans
then the entire food web will diminish. This is
important to study because nothing eats jellies
and they will soon deplete the plankton
population if we don’t find a solution.

Jellyfish are animals that thrive in damaged
environments. The worse the environment the
more populated they will become. Jellyfish are
severe problems in Australia, the Gulf of
Mexico, Hawaii, the Black Sea and several
other locations. They are overpopulated
because they don’t have any natural predators
due to overfishing, rising sea temperatures are
causing them to rapidly reproduce, and the
increased amount of pollution has depleted
the oxygen in the water causing other animals
to die and jellyfish to thrive.

I think that the overpopulation of jellyfish could
become a colossal problem in the future. We should
be greatly concerned about the overpopulation of
these species because if we aren’t then they are going
to take over our oceans. When we go to the beach we
won’t be able to swim, scuba dive, snorkel, or even
recreationally fish. It could cause the fishing industry
to rapidly decline as well. Some possible solutions to
this problem would be to place stricter limits and
regulations on fishing, decrease the amount of runoff and pollution dumped into our oceans, and to try
to be “green” as much as possible so that we can
limit the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed in
our oceans.


1. Is there one species over another becoming
overpopulated?
2. What conservation efforts are being done to
help control this problem?



1. Overfishing- the capture of fish faster than
they can reproduce and replace themselves.
2. Sedimentation- The settlement of particles
from suspension in water, usually
accumulating on the seafloor. Causes really
cloudy water.
3. Plankton- Organisms that float or drift in the
sea’s currents.