Abstract
A long-term time series of plankton records collected by the continuous plankton recorder (CPR) Survey in the northeast Atlantic indicates an increased occurrence of Cnidaria since 2002. In the years 2007 and 2008, outbreaks of the warm-temperate scyphomedusa, Pelagia noctiluca, appeared in CPR samples between 45° N to 58° N and 1° W to 26° W. Knowing the biology of this species and its occurrence in the adjacent Mediterranean Sea, we suggest that P. noctiluca may be exploiting recent hydroclimatic changes in the northeast Atlantic to increase its extent and intensity of outbreaks. In pelagic ecosystems, Cnidaria can affect fish recruitment negatively. Since P. noctiluca is a highly venomous species, outbreaks can also be detrimental to aquaculture and make bathing waters unusable, thus having profound ecological and socio-economic consequences.
Highlights
Pelagic, true jellyfish (Cnidaria) form an abundant guild of top predators in marine ecosystems along with fish (Purcell & Arai 2001)
(a) Plankton sampling in the northeast Atlantic Data on cnidarian distributions and material for genetic analysis were obtained from the continuous plankton recorder (CPR) survey (Batten et al 2003)
Analyses of CPR samples from the North Sea reveal an increase in frequency of Cnidaria since the early 1980s, coincident with a change from a cold to a warm hydroclimatic regime (Beaugrand 2004)
Summary
A long-term time series of plankton records collected by the continuous plankton recorder (CPR) Survey in the northeast Atlantic indicates an increased occurrence of Cnidaria since 2002. In the years 2007 and 2008, outbreaks of the warm-temperate scyphomedusa, Pelagia noctiluca, appeared in CPR samples between 458 N to 588 N and 18 W to 268 W. Knowing the biology of this species and its occurrence in the adjacent Mediterranean Sea, we suggest that P. noctiluca may be exploiting recent hydroclimatic changes in the northeast Atlantic to increase its extent and intensity of outbreaks. Since P. noctiluca is a highly venomous species, outbreaks can be detrimental to aquaculture and make bathing waters unusable, having profound ecological and socio-economic consequences
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