Some Endangered Species Are Being Eaten by Humans

There's a belief that the sixth biological extinction on the planet began in the 1860s, the moment humans launched the Industrial Revolution and entered the Industrial Age.

However, unlike the other mass extinctions, which were related to natural disasters, this one is related to humans. The destruction of the Earth's climate and environment by human activity, and the killing of large numbers of living creatures, are now causing animals to suffer unnatural extinctions that they have never known before.

Although there are many more creatures on Earth that are unknown to humans, 32,000 species of known creatures are on the verge of extinction, ranging from mammals and birds to marine creatures and crustaceans, and some of them are being eaten by humans, unaware that there are fewer and fewer of them today, just when they thought that they would continue to be available.

For example, in foreign countries, many people like to eat fish fry, which mainly uses cod, but wild cod is now endangered, and because humans do not realize this, they are still unconsciously hunting them, and although they are endangered, they are still legal to eat.

A team of scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia have been studying which of the foods humans take from the ocean are endangered for over a decade.

It turns out that more than 90 species of seafood that are commonly found on the human table are now endangered, so the only way to stop them from disappearing is to choose other species to replace them as the new seafood food for humans. And jellyfish, which come in huge numbers, will probably be the best choice for the future.

Jellyfish or become the next favorite seafood

Jellyfish, the most beautiful group of marine sprites in the Earth's oceans, they are the most important plankton in the ocean, the shape looks as if it is a transparent umbrella, and most of the body is made up of water, the study found that as early as 650 million years ago, jellyfish has been have appeared on Earth as early as 650 million years ago, which means that they are one of the oldest inhabitants of the planet among living species.

According to the study, there are more than 250 known species of jellyfish on Earth, both in the oceans and in freshwater.

However, while many jellyfish are bought by humans for home viewing, it is rare to hear of anyone eating them. This is because jellyfish don't look like they're good to eat, and of course, there's another very important reason, which is that the vast majority of jellyfish are poisonous and covered in water, and have no food value.

So why are scientists still suggesting that jellyfish be the seafood of choice for future humans? This is because the race of jellyfish is very large, of which the jellyfish we often eat is a type of jellyfish, and there is also the sea moon jellyfish, which is also edible.

Research has found that as early as 1700 years ago, residents of the southeast coastal areas of China, has begun to eat jellyfish, after the jellyfish to remove the water, they will be processed to eat the jellyfish mouth and wrist parts, this part of the table today often appear "jellyfish head", and the umbrella part of the jellyfish is "jellyfish skin". The "jellyfish skin" is the umbrella part of the jellyfish.

Although the taste of jellyfish is not very good, the nutritional value of jellyfish is very high, and they contain a lot of unsaturated fatty acids, which makes them a very nutritious food for human beings.

What if jellyfish go extinct too?

Since the researchers believe that if jellyfish are used in the future as one of the important sources of food, and it is used instead of cod, etc. to make a favorite food for human beings, what should human beings eat if jellyfish also become extinct in the future?

Researchers say that jellyfish are not going to go extinct due to human fishing, simply because of their reproductive methods and their ability to adapt, which means that they can survive under fishing pressure.

Speaking of which, back in 2017, Denmark started researching making food out of jellyfish, and since the jellyfish itself has no flavor, as long as the sauce that goes with it has the right flavor, then everyone can pick a sauce to consume the jellyfish according to their own tastes.

Of course, if human beings do not wantonly fish and destroy marine resources, human beings in the future will not really go to the jellyfish as the main food of that step, through the fishery observation, the future development of a more reasonable fishery development plan, perhaps can provide more food for human beings, but also to protect the balance of the marine ecosystem, so it is really two birds with one stone, do you think?

References

sciencealert--"Scientists Say Jellyfish Should Become The Next Popular Seafood" 09-21