From: Peter Rivard
Date: Sun Dec 1, 2002 3:52:40 AM Japan
To: newsletter
Subject: See, I told you this was another planet

Hi, all,

       Now, with 50% more weird creatures. The town mentioned is right next to Takefu--these animals live only about a mile from where I work two days a week, and in all likelihood John, Rochelle, and I ate dinner within a few hundred feet of some of these things last week. Other newspaper reports I've read said that they are "washing-machine sized," up to one meter thick by two to three long, and up to 300 lbs. There are so many that fisherman are pulling up thousands of these in EACH set of their nets (they use big nets around here).
       I'm going to cut back on sending out links to articles--I'm sure you all get enough junk mail as it is--but this is pretty amazing, and it reinforces my claim to be living on an alien world.
       Below the story, from the (UK) Daily Sun:

		Invasion of jelly giants
	Monster ... a jellyfish off the coast of Japan
	A DIVER takes a look at one of the thousands of monster jellyfish which have invaded a stretch of coastline. The huge creatures are 3 ft wide, 15 ft long and weigh up to 23 stone. Fishermen’s catches have been halved by the biggest plague of the molophus nomurai for 44 years off Echizen, Japan. The poison from the species’ tentacles discolours and sickens fish but is not lethal to humans. Fishermen reported thousands of the giant jellyfish trapped in their nets. Biologist Toru Yasuda said: “We don’t know what caused this, but it may be warm water temperatures.”