4/21/2016
Spring brings diversity of jellyfish ­ timesofmalta.com
Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 14:07
Spring brings diversity of jellyfish
Jellyfish in Comino ­ Picture Marvin Cachia ­ [email protected]
The onset of spring has yielded a diversity of jellyfish in Maltese waters, the Spot The Jellyfish Campaign said.
Besides the ubiquitous mauve stinger pelagia noctiluca, which is
present in Maltese waters for most of the year, an abnormally large
number of dead salp colonies, which are mostly transparent and
resemble plastic bags, has been reported.
Salps are much more complex than 'ordinary' jellyfish, being pelagic
tunicates and having a primitive brain and even segmented muscles.
Also spotted again was a Portuguese man ‘o war, or blue bottle
physalia physalis, observed earlier this week at Spinola Bay. This
siphonophore species is a colony attached to a gas­filled floating sac
known as a pneumatophore, of Atlantic origin, which occasionally
reaches Maltese waters.
Another floating colony, the innocuous, bluish by­the­wind sailor velella
velella, is also very abundant in Maltese waters at the moment.
The Spot the Jellyfish Campaign will be affixing beach­side information
boards in the next weeks and distributing leaflets to local diving clubs
and local councils. Picture ­ Marvin Cachia.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130416/local/spring­brings­diversity­of­jellyfish.465781
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