Crimean scientists have learned how to detect water pollution using jellyfish

Scientists have learned how to detect seawater pollution using long–eared aurelia jellyfish. The method was developed at the Kovalevsky Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Sevastopol.

A special system tracks how often the dome of such jellyfish shrinks when swimming. This makes it possible to detect foreign substances in seawater, including petroleum products.

According to SevastopolMedia, this development can be used for operational control in ports, on the coast and on marine farms. According to the authors of the study, laboratory analyses are also accurate, but they do not allow monitoring the state of the water in real time. Scientists have to look for live indicators that are particularly sensitive to the chemical composition of the environment.

The Aurelia aurita jellyfish is widespread in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. It reduces its dome in a different way when contaminated with heavy metals, microplastics or petroleum products. However, there has not yet been a reliable automatic tool to monitor this.

According to Elena Vyshkvarkova, the head of the Russian Science Foundation project, the scientists propose a simple autonomous installation. It can be used without expensive laboratory equipment, directly in the field. To do this, an aquarium with jellyfish is installed in the coastal area, through which seawater passes. And changes in the behavior of jellyfish are recorded by computer vision and a special algorithm.

While training the system, the scientists observed six jellyfish in clean water, and then added a small amount of diesel fuel to the aquariums. The algorithm analyzed 11 parameters and learned to distinguish between normal behavior and reaction to pollution. All six jellyfish had changes. Thus, the specialist said, for practical monitoring it will be enough to monitor several individuals.

Earlier it was reported that American materials scientists have developed special stickers from living bacteria, which, when glued to bioplastics, trigger the process of its decomposition. This was reported in the journal ACS Applied Polymer Materials by the authors of a study led by Anna Meyer from the University of Rochester in the USA.