Spot the Jellyfish

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The Spot the Jellyfish campaign aims to increase awareness, especially amongst the younger generations, about the local diversity of jellyfish species, through a hands-on exercise involving the reporting of sightings of jellyfish that often swarm close to our shores and beaches. In so doing the initiative would be supplying useful data for local marine scientists and tourist authorities, through a citizen science approach... and aid to avoid those stinging jellies!

28/05/2026

Maltese coastal waters are currently experiencing a comb jelly (also known as ctenophore) bloom at the moment, courtesy of the calm weather and the prolonged low sea temperatures....normally, such a bloom is experienced some weeks earlier in the year.........these gelatinous creatures are not your typical jellyfish as they do not sting due to their sticky (and non-stinging) tentacles....the bioluminescence is also evident along their sides.....great video clip courtesy of diver Sabine Rosel, whom I thank.....Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign....

Yet another graceful gelatinous creature within Maltese waters....This is Geryonia proboscidalis, brilliantly photograph...
03/05/2026

Yet another graceful gelatinous creature within Maltese waters....

This is Geryonia proboscidalis, brilliantly photographed by Prof. Mark Anthony Falzon earlier this week at Golden Bay.....the species is a stinging one but it only appears in late spring and early summer, always appearing as individuals and never in blooms......Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign.....campaigns.ocean.mt

22/03/2026

Even more snake-like creatures from the deep….

The red-spotted siphonophore (Forskalea edwardsii) is regularly spotted within Maltese waters at this time of the year…..this colony was recorded in Gozo by divers Sabine Rosel and Mark Fothergill……this adds on to the Portuguese man o’war, yet another stinging siphonophore currently present in Maltese waters, making this particular time of the year not particularly recommended for swimming…..most of these species will disappear into the depths in the coming months and will be a distant memory come bathing season…..Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign…….

19/03/2026

And the living sailing boat is BACK!

This is the by-the-wind sailor, a colony of polyps sailing the world’s seas attached to a raft which has a sail…the sail is not made of cloth but of chitin (the same stuff you get within insect wings)…..Velella velella…..the Maltese language has a very apt local common name for the colony…..’qlugħ’, which literally translates into sail……..the species is common to most temperate seas around the world and normally appears in spring in our waters…..a species of snail (Janthina sp.) and a number of sea slugs (e.g. Glaucus sp.) specifically prey on it……thanks to Jean Paul Borg for such a report which just came in…..

The colony’s stinging cells (nematocysts) are relatively BENIGN to humans, although each person may respond differently to contact with the nematocyst toxin. It is wise to avoid touching one's face or eyes after handling V. velella, and itching may develop on parts of the skin that have been exposed to V. velella nematocysts. Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign.....ocean.mt/jellyfish

16/03/2026

Jellyfish soup (with NO STINGS)...

The annual zooplankton bloom has just started within Maltese waters…..these are HARMLESS comb jellies (ctenophores, possibly belonging to the species Beroe sp. and Leucothea multicornis) filmed at Xwejni Bay, Gozo last weekend by diver Sabine Rosel, whom I thank…..the central Mediterranean normally hosts a phytoplankton bloom in January/February and hence this zooplankton bloom is simply a response to such a phytoplankton bloom…..Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign…..

A gelatinous soup indeed...Courtesy of the calm weather and the plankton bloom which normally characterises our waters a...
01/03/2026

A gelatinous soup indeed...

Courtesy of the calm weather and the plankton bloom which normally characterises our waters at this time of the year, delicate gelatinous creatures, normally found in the deep, rise to the surface to feed....some, like the siphonophores (long, snake-like, relatives of the Portuguese man o'war) impart nasty stings whilst others, like the comb jellies, salps and by-the-wind sailor (qlugh), are innocuous....they will disappear to the depths once the strong winds return and come May....its still too early to predict whether we will have a lot of jellyfish (mauve stinger mainly) this summer....thks to all the citizen scientists sending me such reports, including Rhys Bezzina, Anthony Muscat, Turu Quintano, Rosie Lehner, Claudio Cauchi and Janice Busuttil, .....Spot the Jellyfish citizen science ocean.mt/jellyfish

The Portuguese man o’war reaches Malta early this year!This beached specimen of such a stinging siphonophore colony (kno...
25/02/2026

The Portuguese man o’war reaches Malta early this year!

This beached specimen of such a stinging siphonophore colony (known in Italian as ‘caravella del mare’ – Physalia physalis) was photographed by citizen scientist Johann Bellizzi, whom I thank, at St. Julian’s….no cause for panic, however, since these colonies are regularly recorded within Maltese waters in spring time (usually over the March-May period), when strong westerly and north-westerly winds propel them from the Atlantic all the way east to Malta…..this year, the colonies showed up earlier than usual, possibly due to the persistently strong westerlies we had a few weeks ago, including consecutive storms hitting Iberia…….Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign…….ocean.mt/jellyfish/public

A dangerous kind of ‘plastic bag’........A Portuguese man o’war (also known as the blue bottle – Physalia physalis), whi...
23/02/2026

A dangerous kind of ‘plastic bag’........

A Portuguese man o’war (also known as the blue bottle – Physalia physalis), which is a siphonophore colony consisting of thousands of polyps (i.e. it’s not a single individual) which are attached to a gas-filled float known as a pneumatophore.......the species imparts a painful sting which can even be lethal in some rare cases.....best treatment for its stings consists of immersion in hot water (40-45 degrees Centigrade) for 20–45 minutes.....cold packs are sometimes applied too.....this colony was collected off the north-western extremity of Sicily, off the beach of San Vito Lo Capo......this Atlantic species has been reported a number of times over the past 15 years by the Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign, mainly during the SPRING MONTHS.....thanks to Ilaria Sperelli Pizzocri, Oleana Prato and Angelique Lofaro for such an alert.....ocean.mt/jellyfish/public

Finishing off on a bang....yet another sighting of the nomadic jellyfish (Rhopilema nomadica) within Maltese waters....t...
31/12/2025

Finishing off on a bang....yet another sighting of the nomadic jellyfish (Rhopilema nomadica) within Maltese waters....this tropical species was first recorded within Maltese waters in 2014 by the late Shaun Arrigo and the Spot the Jellyfish campaign and is a nasty stinger indeed, closing off beaches and even powerstations in countries like Israel when it blooms.....luckily, in Malta, so far, the species has only occurred as individuals and not as blooms.....thanks to Steve for the photos.....Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign.....

05/12/2025

A rare encounter indeed.....this is possibly the hydromedusa Neotima lucullana, a rare jellyfish for Maltese waters, filmed by Saša Jozić, whom I thank.....the Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign had already recorded this species in Malta in 2013, but it's rarely spotted within our waters.....the species is a stinging one and is native to the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic, given that it prefers cold waters......thanks to Prof. Stefano Piraino for confirming the ID in question.......

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