Azerbaijan's Ministry of Ecology announces the results of the fight against a harmful biological species in the Caspian

Measures taken to reduce the numbers of the harmful biological species Mnemiopsis, which entered the Caspian Sea via the Volga-Don waterway and is having a negative impact on the sea's biosphere, have produced their first results.

This was reported to Trend Life by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan.Mnemiopsis is a comb jelly that lives in seawater in warm regions and resembles a jellyfish; it moves by means of comb plates located along its sides. The predator feeds on phytoplankton. In the light it shimmers with bright colours.

According to information from the Ministry of Ecology, as a result of measures taken over the past three years to combat this biological species, the situation in the northern part of the Caspian has stabilised, and positive processes are also being observed in the middle part of the sea. Similar results are expected in the southern part as well.

A variety of Mnemiopsis living in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of America entered the waters of the Black Sea in 1987, then the species penetrated the Sea of Azov, and in 1999 it made its way into the Caspian Sea via the Volga-Don waterway.

According to the Ministry of Ecology, the harmful biological species Mnemiopsis has led to a decline in zooplankton, the main food of sprat, which subsequently reduced the sprat population in the sea by 60 percent. In turn, the decline in sprat numbers has also affected the numbers of large fish and seals living in the Caspian, the ministry said.