The Spot the Jellyfish campaign launched last May jointly by the IOI-MOC of the University of Malta and the Malta Tourism Authroity has recorded the occurrence of uncommon jellyfish and other gelatinous species.
In particular, the presence of the blue button (Porpita porpita) and the cigar jellyfish (Olindias phosphorica), were reported.
The blue button is characteristic of warmer, tropical waters. Different pyrosome and salp individuals were also recorded, some weighing up to 1.5 kilogrammes.
Pyrosomes and salps are sea squirts (pelagic tunicates) which do not sting and which are among the fastest growing marine organisms.
A variety of comb jellies (ctenophores) were also recorded. These generally lack stinging tentacles and have sticky ones instead.
The initial surge in reports for the mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) reported in June subsided somewhat in July, with reports for this common stinging jellyfish going down by as much as 50 per cent. N other Portuguese man o’ war individuals were reported in July.
The Spot the Jellyfish initiative is coordinated by Aldo Drago with the technical and scientific implementation of Alan Deidun and staff of IOI-MOC. It enjoys the support of the MTA, Nature Trust, Friends of the Earth, EkoSkola and the BlueFlag Malta programme.
The initiative follows a citizen science approach and relies on the collaboration of the public, mariners, divers, and especially the younger generations through their teachers and parents.
Participants record the presence and location of different jellyfish through the use of a dedicated colourful reporting leaflet.
The leaflet is being widely distributed, and can be directly downloaded from www.ioikids.net/jellyfish, which is replete with snippets and anecdotes about different jellyfish species.
With the support of MTA, large posters have also been projected on boards along major bays on both islands.
The reporting is done by matching the sighted jellyfish with a simple visual identification guide, giving the date and time of the sighting, and indicating the number of jellies seen.
Sightings can also be reported online or submitted through an SMS on 79 222 278, or email on ioi-moc@um.edu.mt.
Strange jellyfish not included on the leaflet should be caught and kept in a bucketful of seawater prior to contacting IOI-MOC staff (alan.deidun@um.edu.mt) for retrieval to attempt a definite identification of the species. If this is not possible, photos of the same individuals should be taken.
So far, more than 200 records of different jellyfish species have been submitted by the public. These can be viewed online on a summary map http://oceania.research.um.edu.mt/jellyfish/stats.html which depicts jellyfish occurrence and distribution.