Richie Moretti, director of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, came up with the theory while treating 19 loggerheads at his facility since November. Nine of the 200-pound giants have died. Other turtle experts aren't certain about Moretti's theory. While it's a possibility, it's also possible that the turtles have been poisoned by a microorganism or a pollutant or have caught a disease, they said.
Nature is such a complex system.
When you start talking about causes and effects, there are so many variables it's tough to make conclusions. This caused researchers to back away from their original hypothesis that the loggerheads had contracted a herpes virus that damaged their lungs. The foreign jellyfish could have been brought to Florida in a ship's ballast water, perhaps from Australia or the Caribbean. Ships maintain stability by storing water in a tank. For example, lakes and rivers throughout the country have been overrun by zebra mussels, a clam that clogs water intake pipes.