Lakes in British Columbia are being invaded by invasive freshwater jellyfish, also known as the peach blossom jellyfish. Recent research from the University of British Columbia (UBC) says that these jellyfish clones have been found in at least 34 locations till now.
These jellyfish are native to China, so their discovery and expanding population this far north is a cause for worry. This is the furthest north they’ve been found in North America, and climate change is expected to make things worse by the end of the decade.
“We know very little about how they affect ecosystems and biodiversity of these systems in Canada because the research hasn’t been done yet. The worry is that they harm indigenous species by outcompeting them,” Florian Lüskow, who conducted the study during his postdoctoral fellowship at UBC, said in a statement.
The first sightings of the peach blossom jellyfish in British Columbia were reported in 1990. At that time, they were mainly concentrated in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast.
In the US, they were first spotted way back in 1908 and in the next 100 years spread to 43 of the 50 states, according to Animal Diversity Web.
The good news is that Peach blossom jellyfish cannot harm humans since their stings aren’t able to tear through human skin. However, the sudden growth in their numbers is likely to affect the ecosystem of the region.
“Between 1990 and 2023, a 34-year span, there have been 85 sightings, counted once per location per year, where each sighting could be one or thousands of jellyfish. But in this decade alone, we are predicting about 80 sightings, and likely in more than the 34 locations currently observed,” Lüskow said.
British Columbia has relatively mild winters and warm summers, making it an ideal place for them.
“If climate change leads to freshwater temperature increases across British Columbia, we will likely see wider spread. Modelling indicates that even Alaskan reservoirs may potentially see invasion,” he said.
However, scientists are a bit relieved by the fact that only male jellyfish have been found, which means they cannot reproduce and their adaptability to new environments is restricted.
