A Novel Material Mucin Extracted from Jellyfishes and a Critical Evaluation of Its Economical Merits in Recycle Operation

Abstract

Recently, mass occurrences of jellyfishes are frequently reported from everywhere all over the world. They are believed to be caused by global environmental changes including overfishing that is the most probable reason. Biomass of jellyfish increased and now is accumulating as marine wastes and its use as food or resources is now coming to be considered. This article critically analyses the present situation of this issue with ecological, environmental, economic, and social points of view. Among these, the possibility of extraction of useful materials with high additional values is discussed. Finally, we introduce our new findings of novel jellyfish mucin（qniumucin）in the last part of this article.