--- title: "Jellyfish Thrive on Pollution and Climate Change. Now They’re Taking Over" description: "Jellyfish have been around for a half billion years. Now, pollution and climate change are allowing them to take over and choke the oceans." date: "2019-01-06" modified: "2019-01-06" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/jellyfish-thrive-pollution-climate-change" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Pollution" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "ecosystems" - "jellyfish" - "power plants" --- # Jellyfish Thrive on Pollution and Climate Change. Now They’re Taking Over ![Jellyfish have been around for a half billion years. Now, pollution and climate change are allowing them to take over and choke the oceans.]() *\Image: Megan Newman/Jon Christian\* ## Jellyfish Invasion Jellyfish have been around for a half billion years. Now, pollution and climate change are allowing them to take over and choke the oceans. That's according to Juli Berwald, the author of "Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone," according to a [new interview]() with the *Australian Broadcasting Corporation* — a dire warning about how human activity has upset the natural ecosystem. ## Electric System Jellyfish reproduce well in warmer waters, Berwald said, and they do well in polluted areas because they need less oxygen than other sea life. Exploding jellyfish populations have swept into power plants across the world — including [two nuclear plants in Scotland]() — shutting down parts of the power grid, she said. "One jellyfish scientist from Japan told me that the first threat to the electric system in Japan is earthquakes, but the second is jellyfish," Berwald told *ABC*. "We are dealing with a ubiquitous creature." ## Terrestrial Creatures The growth worldwide jellyfish populations — at the expense of other marine life like fish — is a warning about the effects that pollution and climate change are having on the [health of the oceans](), according to Berwald. "Because we are terrestrial creatures we haven't really thought about the health of the oceans," Berwald told *ABC*. "We've considered it as this place that is so big we can never really damage it that badly. The message from jellyfish is that we are." **READ MORE:** [Jellyfish are causing mayhem as pollution, climate change see numbers boom]() \[*Australian Broadcasting Corporation*\] ***More on jellyfish:** [Jellyfish Chips Are the Future of Junk Food]()* ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()