Massive blooms of the Giant Medusa Nemopilema nomurai Kishinouye in Japanese Waters from Late Summer to Winter in 2002 (Note)

Accession number;04A0320900
Title;Massive blooms of the Giant Medusa Nemopilema nomurai Kishinouye in Japanese Waters from Late Summer to Winter in 2002 (Note)
Author;YASUDA TOORU(Fukuikensaibaigyogyose)   
Journal Title;Bulletin of Plankton Society of Japan
Journal Code:Y0113A
ISSN:0387-8961
VOL.51;NO.1;PAGE.34-37(2004)
Figure&Table&Reference;FIG.2, REF.16
Pub. Country;Japan
Language;Japanese
Abstract;The present paper describes the distribution pattern of the giant medusa, Nemopilema nomurai Kishinouye in Japanese waters from late summer to winter 2002. Blooms of this medusa caused extensive damage to set net, purse net and trawl fisheries estimated at more than hundreds of millions of yen. This medusa appeared suddenly in the Genkai-nada Sea off Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, in the end of August, and spread to multiple locations in Japanese waters, including on the Pacific side via the Tsugaru Strait. The factors leading to the massive blooms of N. nomurai in Japanese waters were considered to include: (1) environmental conditions around the south-eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula and the east China Sea, where the main reproductive grounds of this medusa are thought to occur, have been altered through anthropogenic effects such as eutrophication and building along shorelines; (2) the recent tendency towards warm water mass intrusions into the Sea of Japan accelerated the invasion and growth of the medusae in these same waters. (author abst.)