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Such beauty and grace, drifting through the waters without a care in the world…

Its tentacles floating out, catching currents, going where-ever the nature brings them.

They have no central nervous system, yet they are able to react, purely based on animal instinct. Oh, what wonders Mother Nature have given birth to.

Harmless, they may seem, drifting past you in the sea. And, as if on instinct, you reach out to stroke it, to get a hold of its mesmerizing beauty. It feels soft, slimy and jelly like to the touch.

Suddenly, a searing pain shoots through your fingertips, filling you with paralyzing pain. You have to get back to shore fast and find medical help.
You were just stung by a box jellyfish, also known as a sea wasp.
Type:
Invertebrate
Diet:
Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:
Less than 1 year
Size:
Fully grown, it could reach 4 and a half metres long.

Its venom quickly acts on the central nervous system, dangerous stings cause heart attack or drowning in only minutes. Severe stings commonly result in death before getting to shore. The skin around the sting area dies within hours, leaving long purple rope like whip marks.
Breathing becomes distressed, heart and respiratory problems soon follow.

These dangerous beauties could originally be found swimming in Northern Australian waters. Now, they can even be spotted in Atlantic and east Pacific, with species as far north as California, the and Japan and as far south as South Africa and New Zealand.

[zooming into japan]

But these are not the only problems that could be caused by the jellyfish.

Even without bodily contact, they can harm our economy and livelihood.

In japan, an outbreak of massive jellyfish, known as the Nomura jellyfish.

Scientific Name: Nemopilema nomurai or Echizen Kurage in Japanese
Size: 2 m (6.6 ft) in diameter
Weight: 220 kg

Damage to:
Fishing equipment
Fishermen’s catch
Nets

Cost: 30 billion yen ($332 million) a year

Jellyfish swarms are now an almost annual occurrence when it was a rare occurrence every 40 years in the past.

There is no denying this fact. The jellyfish population is increasing. But why?

Increasingly polluted waters boost growth of the microscopic plankton that "jellies" feed upon, while overfishing has eliminated many of the jellyfish's predators and cut down on competitors for plankton feed.

Predators, such as tuna, sharks, and turtles vanish, not only do fewer jellyfish get eaten, they have less competition for food.

The over-exploitation of ocean resources by man has helped create a near-perfect environment in which these most primitive of ocean creatures can multiply unchecked, scientists say.

Who pollutes these waters? Who contributes to overfishing?

Humans.

Our nature is out of sync. Most of us know it. The rest, avoid the topic or deny it.

Isn’t it time to wake up and smell the deep shit we are in?
Reality isn’t pleasant. But we still have to accept it. Humankind is over consuming earth’s resources.

Our descendants will not be enjoying the pleasures we have today. Do we want our children to be paying off the debts incurred by us to Mother Nature from the day they are born?