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Japan Battles Jellyfish Invasion

A diver attaches a sensor to a giant jellyfish off the coast of Japan.
/ Yomiuri Shimbun/AFP/Getty Images
A diver attaches a sensor to a giant jellyfish off the coast of Japan.

Giant jellyfish are flooding into the Sea of Japan.

The translucent creatures can grow as large as 6 feet in diameter and weigh 450 lbs. Over the last 5 years, millions have migrated from the coast of China into Japanese waters. Scientists believe they're floating in on ocean currents warmed by global climate change.

The jellyfish are so heavy they rip the nets of Japanese fishermen and their venom poisons the rest of the catch.

The country's fishing industry has been devastated. But a Japanese entrepreneur has decided to make lemonade out of these marine lemons.

Kaneo Fukuda calls himself "Jellyfish Fukuda" and he claims to have developed more than 20 products made out of the jellyfish. He's marketing everything from makeup to mixed drinks. Anyone for a Jellyfish Sour?

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Madeleine Brand
Madeleine Brand is the host of NPR’s newest and fastest-growing daily show, Day to Day. She conducts interviews with newsmakers (Iraqi politicians, US senators), entertainment figures (Bernardo Bertolluci, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Gervais), and the everyday people affected by the news (an autoworker laid off at GM, a mother whose son was killed in Iraq).