Oceanography experts are encouraging people to eat an alien species of shrimp that has seen an increase in population over the past five years.

Prof. Alan Deidun took to Facebook on Monday with photos of the Red Sea mantis shrimp, a crustacean native to tropical waters first caught in Maltese waters five years ago.

The hand-sized creature is “very similar to the native mantis shrimp,” Deidun said in his post, and is common in places like Marsa, where it burrows in muddy sediment.

“I think it was carried here,” Deidun told Times of Malta, suggesting that the shrimp may have been brought in ship ballasts.

He said it is too early to know how the introduction of the mantis shrimp will affect the local marine ecosystem, yet there is a positive.

“It is edible,” he explained, “which means that its population can be kept in check” as the citizen science campaign coordinators encourage people to eat these invasive species.

An invasive species is a non-indigenous organism that can cause economic and environmental harm as its population grows in the new area.

Aliens spotted

The photos, taken by Callum Smith, form part of a campaign coordinated by Deidun and several others that aims to promote reports of non-indigenous species, also known as ‘alien species’.

The campaign, Spot the Alien Fish, was launched in 2017 and primarily focuses on discovering new fish in Maltese waters.

Along with another similar campaign, Spot the Jellyfish, Deidun started the project to create awareness on these new additions to local wildlife.

“We needed to collect info on the occurrence of these species,” he said, and the best way to get it was to turn to the public. 

The campaign has not only helped the scientific community keep track of local marine inhabitants but has allowed them to create awareness of invasive species and, in some cases, even save lives.

The silver-cheeked toadfish, a toxic species of fish, was first spotted in Malta in 2014 by the Spot the Alien Fish campaign who immediately took precautions by promptly removing the found specimen. There have been several reported fatalities since its introduction to the Mediterranean, none of which in Malta.

Deidun and the rest of the citizen science campaign members receive thousands of reports each year of new species, quickly vetting them and releasing alerts when harmful creatures settle down on local shores.