Slimy Hagfish Love a Gooey Jellyfish Buffet

In the grown-up version of Neptune 911 for Kids, Neptune 911, there are shared stories about how jellyfish may be a new challenge for our seas.  Jellyfish are blooming like crazy in warmer, over-fished seas.  Some experts call this jellyfish population explosion "the jellification of the oceans."

There are between 1000-1500 types of jellyfish.  Some are tiny, others are scary-big, like this huge Echizen jellyfish off the coast of Komatsu in northern Japan. YIKES!

AFP Photo

These heartless, brainless and gooey creatures that look like beautiful and imaginative art, are not known as a food source.  So, with this expansion of the jellyfish population, what happens when they die? Do they just melt away at the bottom of sea?

Nope. Researchers just discovered that the slimy hagfish, crabs, and other scavenger absolutely love a dead jellyfish buffet.