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. It was brought from Eastern Europe in ballast water. Moretti said loggerheads build up a tolerance for toxins found in local varieties of jellyfish, but they can die if they eat foreign jellyfish. The turtles' inability to lift their heads prevents the hospital from keeping them in its saltwater tank, where they could drown or develop pneumonia from inhaling water. So the turtles are being kept in plastic kiddy pools with no water.