I know for certain I lost a few nights’ sleep in June 2011 when I read that an explosion in the jellyfish population is quickly turning our oceans into acid wastelands. What’s more, this is such a big deal that many experts are sounding the alarm that ocean acidity is the greatest threat our world has ever known.
Fast forward to yesterday when I came across a Business Insider report which explains how our acidic oceans are literally dissolving sea creatures alive. Business Insider‘s Dina Spector shares The L.A. Times’ David Horsey’s explanation of how humans and fish are directly implicated: “Researchers are finding that, in several locales, the shells of tiny creatures called pteropods are being thinned and broken down by acidity. People do not eat pteropods, but plenty of fish do. They supply 50% of the diet of pink salmon, and people do eat salmon. It is not hard to understand the biology: If pteropods disappear, salmon and other fish get scarce.”
You can read the full terrifically depressing story by visiting BusinessInsider.com, and be sure to follow Business Insider on Facebook and Twitter. And to read the jellyfish story click here: “Jellyfish Fast Becoming Earth’s Most Catastrophic Threat, Turning Oceans Into Acid Wastelands”