Giant jellyfish spotted off Norway

OSLO, Norway, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Giant jellyfish have been spotted in large numbers in the usually chilly waters surrounding Norway, an Oslo University scientist reported.

Hege Vestheim told the Tonsbergs Blad newspaper that she photographed large numbers of the giant comb jellyfish in Norwegian waters last fall.

The comb jellyfish, while not dangerous to humans, eats small newly hatched fish and can devastate marine fisheries by disrupting food chains.

"They were drifting on the surface everywhere," Vestheim told Tonsbergs Blad.

Giant jellyfish damaged the eco-system in the Caspian Sea in the late 1990s and damaged the fishery in the Black Sea in the 1980s.