STUNG!

Reviewed 12/02/2013

Stung!, by Lisa-ann Gershwin
STUNG!
On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean
Lisa-ann Gershwin
Sylvia Earle (Fwd.)
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, May 2013

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-226-02010-5
ISBN-10 0-226-02010-X 424pp. HC/FCI $27.50

Errata

Page 31: "...and a myriad of gribblies living in the understory."
  This quotation refers to the ecology of a kelp forest. The term "gribblies," as I understand it, means something akin to gremlins: small monsters, perhaps harmless, but if not more annoying than dangerous.
Page 51: "Mnemiopsis only rarely preys on copepods when other food is available."
  Redundant: S/B "rarely".
Page 53: "However, cool spring temperatures are associated with smaller body size, and they are unable to survive the 4°C (39°F) winters..."
  Dangling participle: S/B "Mnemiopsis is unable to survive".
Page 67: "Introduced species seem to love the Baltic apparently attracted or enabled by this instability..."
  Missing comma: S/B "the Baltic, apparently attracted".
Page 80: "Generalists."
  Not a sentence: S/B "They are generalists."
Page 83: "In order to better understand jellyfish blooms and their growing importance, this chapter is devoted to making sense of..."
  Dangling participle: S/B "In order to foster better understanding of".
Page 93: "Most of the time, this is more or less true."
  I'm not sure what to make of that.
Page 95: "From 1988 to 1999, the annual worldwide catch of jellyfish was [...] about 321,000 tons (wet weight). [...] that's [...] more than the totals of Pacific herring (353,068 tons) ..."
  This math doesn't add up.
Page 114: "Man marks the earth with ruin, his control stops with the shore, again reflecting..."
  Close-quote mark missing: S/B 'with the shore," again'.
Pages 127-128: "Longlines catch sharks, sea turtles, and seabirds in addition as their target fish species."
  Wrong word: S/B "in addition to".
Page 138: "But jellyfish, which eat copepods, are flourishing. And salps."
  Not a sentence: S/B "And so are salps."
Page 151: "Research is currently underway to try to determine how many jellyfish..."
  Missing space: S/B "under way".
Page 161 & 2: "It's pink. It's slimy. It's lethal. [...] The stings are annoying but usually not lethal."
  Inconsistent: S/B "It can be lethal."
Page 178: "The second phase of eutrophication is when the initial and secondary effects become visible."
  Contradictory: Why describe an initial phase if initial effects aren't part of it? S/B "when the secondary effects".
Page 184: "Formerly so common as to be featured on textbook covers, stamps, and even university logos, sightings of these species are now few and far between."
  Dangling participle: S/B "these species are seldom sighted now".
Page 189: "Nutrient pollution includes substances that are natural in the marine environment but are in unnaturally excessive amounts (eutrophic conditions) or severely limiting (oligotrophic conditions)."
  This may be the marine ecological definition, but to me it seems incorrect that the lack of something would be considered pollution.
Page 192: "'Biomagnification' is where these accumulated substances are passed up the food chain, and compounded through repeated ingestion of contaminated organisms."
  Punctuation, wording: S/B "chain and concentrated".
Page 197: "Once thought to break down through rapid dispersion and microbial degradation, it is now clear that spilled oil has both an acute mortality effect and a chronic sublethal effect."
  Dangling participle: S/B "spilled oil is now known to have".
Page 198: "Heavy metals can cause changes to tissue matter, reproductive and growth abnormalities, and behavioral alterations."
  Extra word: S/B "tissue".
Page 199: "To put this into context, the highest category of contaminated fish, which includes, ahi tuna, swordfish, and shark, reveal concentrations of more than..."
  Extra comma: S/B "which includes ahi tuna".
Pages 204-5: "...and second, manufactured microscopic resin pellets (called 'nurdles') and cosmetic and industrial scrubbers."
  Wrong word: S/B "from cosmetic". (Also I'm not sure these pellets are microscopic.)
Page 205: "However, it seems plausible that the toxins in and on plastics may be capable leaching out during the digestion process..."
  Missing word: S/B "may be capable of leaching out".
Page 209: "Vast tracks of cold-water corals living in the deep sea..."
  Wrong word: S/B "Vast tracts".
Page 232: "Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, for example, in coal-fired power plants and automobiles."
  Word order: S/B "in automobiles and coal-fired power plants".
Page 240: "Much of this carbon is 'fixed' by phytoplankton, meaning that it is converted into energy in the form of body mass."
  Inaccurate: S/B "converted into insoluble forms of body mass". (One possible revision)
Page 240: "Furthermore, many copepod species [... facilitate] the process of removing excess carbon from the carbon cycle by their waste becoming more readily locked in the sediments."
  Inaccurate: S/B "removing excess carbon from the oceans". (It's still part of the carbon cycle, which includes rocks and sediments.)
Page 252: "For tropical species, the outlook under intolerable warming conditions is less clear."
  Clumsy: S/B "the outlook under warming conditions". Intolerable conditions will not be tolerated!
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