Because of Climate Change, Venomous Sea Creature Are on the Rise

Warming oceans could usher in a whole new group of dangerous creatures.

climate change
Box jellyfish have been blamed for rising human fatalities and beach closures. (Auscape/UIG via Getty Images)
UIG via Getty Images

Humans might have to deal with an increasing amount of venomous bites, stings and other brush ups with poison due to climate change, according to a new study

That study comes at the same time that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a bombshell report warning that negative impacts from a warming world are coming faster than expected.

According to a new analysis of poisonous or venomous aquatic animals, dangerous species may become more common in new ranges because of the rising sea temperatures. This includes lionfish, sea snakes, crown-of-thorns starfish and a number of different types of venomous jellies.

“These species have human interest because they’re poisonous but they reflect the broader patterns that we’re seeing—range shifts, abundance changes, either declines or increases—and that is upsetting the balance of what we would normally see in the ecosystem,” says Isabelle Neylan, a PhD student in marine sciences at the University of California, Davis and a coauthor of the study recently published in Wilderness and Environment Medicine, according to National Geographic. 

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