As the Marine Biologist, Mr. Taklis, explained, the outbreak began in 2020 in the Aegean, almost simultaneously with Spain and has now spread throughout the Mediterranean.
«What people see outside on the beach is literally nothing. They see hundreds of thousands of jellyfish and we have videos that 50 meters deep, the whole sea is purple. So if a ship passes, it throws them out again“Marine biologist Christos Taklis pointed out while speaking at the First Program.
The purple jellyfish is dangerous, confirmed Mr. Taklis, noting, however, that their population has not increased. As he explained, the outbreak started in 2020 in the Aegean, almost simultaneously with Spain and now they have spread throughout the Mediterranean.
Some of the causes of their spread are overfishing which contributes to the better habitat for the purple jellyfish as well as climate change. The outbreak is normal, we have records of purple jellyfish over 200 years in the Mediterranean.
According to Mr. Takliswe will see a big drop next summer as we enter the third year of their cycle and then we will see sparsely isolated purple jellyfish.
“Instead of going to a beach and seeing 500-1000, hundreds of thousands, we may see one or two next year,” he said.
There are special nets for jellyfish, Mr. Taklis pointed out “but you can not close the whole beach, you can only close one part” he noted. In addition, you can not put nets on all the beaches of Greece, after all the companies have a small stock at the moment. Some beaches manage to put in immediately, others will have to order the nets and it may take 2-3 months to prepare, while they are also very expensive. As Mr. Taklis mentioned, 90 meters of net, together with a navigation lamp, reach 12,000 euros, money that most companies cannot afford. However, for those who are interested, the nets are entered by individuals while ordinary citizens can put in, as well as companies to cooperate and buy.
He who wants to open to the deep should have a uniform, Mr. Taklis stressed, while the only thing the citizens can do is to control the winds and decide whether to enter depending on whether the wind drives the purple jellyfish to means.
Sea currents help to spread and move from beach to beach. In addition, the temperature of the sea helps in the successful reproduction of the purple jellyfish, which occurs at a temperature of 16 degrees to 27 degrees Celsius.
“In Greece, in the Aegean and Ionian the temperature does not fall below 12 degrees Celsius even in winter, in other areas such as the south of Crete we have very hot water, north of Rhodes it never falls below 17 degrees, so we understand how favorable “The climate for purple jellyfish has changed,” added Mr. Taklis.
We see more upsurge from Attica and below and in the Ionian, he said, while northern Greece still has only a few recordings.
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