Jellyfish Mucus: Harnessing its Magic to Trap Microplastics
Jellyfish mucus (yes, you read it right) could save the oceans from dying. This icky, gooey substance has the power to bind microplastics. GoJelly, an EU-funded project, aims to harness this power of jellyfish mucus. The team is trying to create an adhesive using jellyfish mucus that will perform microplastic sequestration. If their experiment succeeds, it could help us save the oceans from microplastics and deal with increased jellyfish populations. We wouldn’t have to worry too much about eating microplastics or getting stung by a jellyfish in the sea!
Microplastics, as the name implies, are minute pieces of plastic (less than five millimeters long) that result from the breakdown of larger plastic pieces. Another species of their kind is microbeads. They are tiny polythene pieces used in the health and cosmetics industry, for instance, as exfoliants in cleansers or toothpaste. Each year, at least 14 million tons of plastic pass into the sea. Most of this isn’t visible when you look at the ocean. Surface plastic accounts for only 1% of the total ocean plastic debris. A recent model found that 99.8 percent of plastic that entered the oceans since 1950 had sunk below the first few hundred feet. However, The life of plastic doesn’t end a few hundred feet below the surface. Disastrously, as it moves through the water, it breaks down into smaller pieces and ultimately reduces so much that it gets the title of a microplastic.
The dangers of microplastic get disguised by their bright colors that are attractive to marine life. Their high buoyancy makes these little fragments readily available to fish that mistake them for food. Consequently, when digested, these tiny plastic particles get incorporated into the food chain and are digested by other organisms that are higher on the trophic level. It means that if we eat a fish that has ingested microplastics, we end up eating microplastics, too. What’s more, is their adverse effect on essential marine animals like plankton. Likewise, sea birds don’t have it easy, either. Half of their species have become endangered, and the toxic effect plastic fragments have on their bodies can cause a drastic change in their feeding behavior, reproduction, and mortality.
Thousands of creatures around the world continue to face the risk of extinction. But not jellyfish - they are thriving in the warm, polluted water. Over the past two decades, populations of many jellyfish species have skyrocketed. Their swarms, called "jellyfish blooms," are causing multiple problems worldwide. These include forcing beach closures and causing power outages due to clogging power-plant pipes. Jellyfish swarms are killing other marine creatures, too. In 2007, a jellyfish swarm 10 square miles in size killed 100,000 salmon in a fish farm off the coast of Ireland. Overall, there’s mounting evidence that the marine ecosystem may be transforming into one dominated by jellies.
There have been ongoing discussions on both issues, increased jellyfish populations and the explosive presence of microplastics in oceans. Jamileh Javidpour, associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark, proposes to address both issues by using one to solve the other. Under stress, jellyfish produce copious amounts of mucus, which is fantastic for the GoJelly team. “This slime contains a protein structure which acts like a net, trapping and filtering micro- and nano plastics,” Javidpour explains. Using this principle, GoJelly can create filters that prevent the minutest plastic particles in wastewater from reaching the ocean.
The building of the filters starts with harvesting medusae, one of the two body forms of jellyfish. Then they are transferred to a funnel where they secrete the mucus. The collected mucus is freeze-dried and inserted into a cylinder-shaped filtering device. Filters built using jellyfish mucus could solve another important problem - although the current filtering techniques remove the bigger particles, smaller microplastic particles, and nano plastics manage to evade them. “Lab-based trials showed that jellyfish mucus is the perfect candidate to fill this gap, demonstrating nearly 100 % efficiency in binding the smallest particles,” Javidpour notes.
So what do you do with the rest of the jellyfish after you collect its slime? You eat it. The GoJelly team has developed a jellyfish cookbook and other concepts for turning the rest of the jellyfish biomass into edible fuel for humans. They have also patented an innovative process for sustainably dehydrating edible jellyfish. If you are wondering how it tastes, take it from marine biologist Lisa-ann Gershwin who says, “They’re kind of squishy, kind of crunchy, and chewy. In the mouth, it feels like a cross between cucumbers and rubber bands.” Although it sounds strange to think about consuming a jellyfish, new research suggests that eating jellyfish is a sustainable alternative to fish.
From harnessing the power of jellyfish mucus to absorb ocean microplastics to getting outside our comfort zone with new cuisine, the future of jellyfish seems more promising and less fishy.
