Jellyfish have appeared in Transcarpathian reservoirs, scientists talk about global warming.
Biologists first spotted them here this summer. Jellyfish live in stagnant or low-flowing water. They are colorless, almost transparent. The shape is the same as the sea. But it is much smaller in size - from 2 to 4 centimeters in diameter.
24-year-old graduate biologist Miroslav Markovich watched jellyfish underwater. I could not catch and investigate at least one. During the day they swim half a meter below the surface of the water. At night, they descend almost to the bottom of the reservoir.
Jellyfish have stinging cells. But for people they are not harmful, they do not burn the skin. There are only two types of freshwater jellyfish known in the world. Some live in Asia and Africa. Others come from the Amazon. These are the very ones in the Transcarpathian waters. In Ukraine, 10 years ago, they were found in the Dnieper near Kiev.
“Most likely they ended up with aquarium fish. Or already as a result of settling in Europe, for example, they were carried by birds, although they fall to the bottom, but in coastal areas they could somehow get on the paws or wings of birds, and thus be carried across the territory of Ukraine, says the candidate of biological sciences Fedor Kurtyak.
Experts say that the appearance of freshwater jellyfish in our water bodies is a biological anomaly. For decades, they are in the stage of polyps and transform only when the water temperature becomes very warm - from plus 26 to 33 degrees.
The spread of freshwater jellyfish is evidence of general warming on the planet, biologists say. And they assure that these animals do not harm anyone.
“They are not dangerous to humans. They feed on zooplankton and can compete with the fry of certain fish species,”says Fedor Kurtyak.
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