TITLE:
Invasion of Danish and Adjacent Waters by the Comb Jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi—10 Years After
AUTHORS:
Hans Ulrik Riisgård
KEYWORDS:
Invasive Ctenophore, Alien Comb Jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi, Predation Impact, Zooplankton, Limfjorden, Baltic Sea, Kattegat, Great Belt, Hydrography
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Marine Science,
Vol.7 No.4,
September
4,
2017
ABSTRACT: The invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, which comes from North America’s
east coast, was observed in Danish waters for the first time in 2007. Since
then, the new invader has every summer spread in Danish and adjacent waters
(i.e. North Sea, Limfjorden, Skagerrak, Kattegat, Belt Sea, Baltic Sea). The invasive
comb jelly has apparently come to stay, as it has no effective enemies.
Possible harmful effects of M. leidyi which feeds voraciously on zooplankton,
fish eggs and larvae, have so far not been thoroughly studied in Danish waters,
although dedicated attempts have been made in Limfjorden and in the central
Baltic Sea. Over the last 10 years, the Danish national environmental monitoring
program did not include gelatinous zooplankton, but new initiatives
have been recently taken. A brief overview of our current knowledge on the
impact of M. leidyi in Danish waters is given here.