Kaohsiung’s Marine Wetlands Park in the city’s Linyuan District (林園) yesterday announced that upside-down jellyfish, once the main attraction of its coastal lagoons, have returned.
The upside-down jellyfish did not appear in the park’s lagoons between 2016 and last year because industrial waste was dumped into the lagoons, park officials said.
The wetlands park once had the only lagoon where up to 10,000 jellyfish would congregate, the park said, adding that many former school children undoubtedly have fond memories of their field trips to the area.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
However, industrial pollution drove away the jellyfish and caused a drastic drop in the number of visitors, the park said.
The Linyuan District Mangrove Conservation Society, which works with the park, is now taking reservations for group tours, society director-general Su Wen-hua (蘇文華) said.
“According to our observations, the number of jellyfish is at its lowest from June to August and slowly increases starting each September,” Su said.
January and February are the creatures’ breeding season and the best period for observing the jellyfish, Su added.
Outside the park, jellyfish have also been spotted in ditches in the district’s Gangpu (港埔) and Shanwei (汕尾) areas and there have been sightings of sea anemones, Su said.
This is due to pumps drawing in the jellyfish and sea anemones when local aquaculture farmers are piping in saltwater for their ponds, Su said.
A thicker layer of sediment at the bottom of the lagoons could be one of the reasons why the population of jellyfish cannot compare with its peak of 10,000, Su said.
The number of fish in the lagoons and the sediment kicked up when fish swim around is also not conducive to the growth of jellyfish, Su said.
His organization hopes to work with the park to create a suitable habitat for the jellyfish, Su said, adding that one method would be to artificially change the direction of the current to wash away the sediment.
The mangrove society and the park would also call for volunteers to regularly clean the algae off the lagoon’s surface to help photosynthesis inside the jellyfish, Su said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
RSS