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In another sign of climate change and world-wide pollution, scientists are tracking a troubling trend - our oceans in which we bathe are being invaded by more and more jellyfish:

The explosion of jellyfish populations, scientists say, reflects a combination of severe overfishing of natural predators, like tuna, sharks and swordfish; rising sea temperatures caused in part by global warming; and pollution that has depleted oxygen levels in coastal shallows.

From Spain to New York, to Australia, Japan and Hawaii, jellyfish are becoming more numerous and more widespread, and they are showing up in places where they have rarely been seen before, scientists say. The faceless marauders are stinging children blithely bathing on summer vacations, forcing beaches to close and clogging fishing nets.

"These jellyfish near shore are a message the sea is sending us saying, 'Look how badly you are treating me,'" said Dr. Josep-Maria Gili, a leading jellyfish expert, who has studied them at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona for more than 20 years.

Indeed, the message these little critters are really sending is more like, "GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, HUMANS!"

How many other little signals do we need before we change our ways and stop damaging the planet? The call to, "Save the Planet," is really more like, "Save the Humans!"

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