Fried egg jellyfish season in full swing
Hundreds of fried egg jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata have been spotted and reported by the public as part of the Spot the Jellyfish campaign along different Maltese coastal areas, especially around Comino, the north coast of Gozo, Wied iz-Zurrieq and Marsascala.
Testimony to the precise timing of the occurrence of the fried egg jellyfish swarms, the species is also known in Maltese as tal-lampuki, in clear reference to the dolphin fish, which is caught at this time of year, as well by the descriptive monicker of qassata, which is a traditional Maltese pastry. Despite its size, the fried egg jellyfish is innocuous and its occurrence is short-lived, normally extending till the start of October at most.
Juveniles of mackerel are frequently observed sheltering amongst the purple-tipped tentacles of the jellyfish. Way back in 1977, Guido Lanfranco reported the occurrence of large numbers of the fried egg jellyfish in Maltese bays, especially in those facing the south and south-east.
The size of fried egg jellyfish aggregations so far are nowhere near the staggering dimensions of those observed in September last year.
Sightings of the fried egg jellyfish received so far make up for around five per cent of the over 300 jellyfish sightings reports received so far.
Nine gelatinous plankton species have been recorded so far as part of the Spot the Jellyfish initiative.
The Spot the Jellyfish initiative is coordinated by Aldo Drago with the technical and scientific implementation of Alan Deidun and staff of IOI-MOC, and enjoys the support of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and of 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 general public, mariners, divers, and especially the younger generations through their teachers and parents, by recruiting their assistance in recording 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 furthermore been projected on boards along major bays on both islands.
The reporting is done by simply 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 be also reported online or submitted through an sms on 79 222 278, or by sending an email message to 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, and can be viewed online on a summary map (http://193.188.45.233/jellyfish/stats.html) which depicts jellyfish occurrence and distribution.
17 Comments
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francesca vincenti
Sep 1st 2010, 14:22
Clayton Axiak: while we thank you for pointing out that the term 'innocuous' may be clearly understood by only a 'few', the use of simpler terms such as ''harmless'' or ''not dangerous'' for the 'many' would be better understood - not all are as word savvy as the few ;-)
Clayton Axiak
Sep 2nd 2010, 08:37
Point taken. =D
J Mallia
Aug 31st 2010, 20:28
This is nothing new. I've been seeing these for over a decade. Harmless and beautiful creatures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmallia/4064941250/
Sandro Bugeja
Aug 31st 2010, 19:34
Here is a video I took of one such jellyfish last year: http://79664664.com/2010/08/31/fried-egg-jellyfish/
Daniel Mercieca
Aug 31st 2010, 15:50
They should come earlier and eat the dangerous ones! The ones i saw had no tentacles, i wonder how they catch the smaller ones!
M. Mercieca
Aug 31st 2010, 14:26
When I saw the title, my first reaction was "Oh my, oh my, are the maltese frying the jellyfish now too!!" lol
Gerard Cassar
Aug 31st 2010, 12:21
Innocuous, yes, but who would like to swim surounded by these creatures. We want a sea free of any kind of creatures. It is like saying swimming surrounded by logs of not dangerous wood. Yes but who would like it.
n mifsud
Aug 31st 2010, 13:57
"We want a sea free of any kind of creatures"........its their sea not ours!!!
F Fenech
Aug 31st 2010, 15:50
are you serious??It's their territory now ours! If you don't want to swim with 'creatures' than I'd suggest you either go to a pool or not swim at all!
Claire Busuttil
Aug 31st 2010, 16:22
EEEHHH ?? you`re just kidding ehi? the sea is theirs .....we are the visitors there!
Daniel Jones
Sep 2nd 2010, 12:49
I would. All the divers in Malta come up with wide eyes when we have such a fantastic encounter. Last year the big swarms of these were amazing. When ascending on a shot line we had them whizzing past in the current and it was something truly to behold.
And if you had a sea free of any kind of creatures, do you think for one second that sea would be good enough to swim in? Absolutely not. It would be highly toxic. It is the creatures in the sea that keep it clean.
Karl Axisa
Aug 31st 2010, 12:19
Further to Ms. Vincenti's comment, as stated in the above article, the fried egg jellyfish are hosts to a variety of fish fry that possibly, when older, feed on more poisonous jellyfish. I did observe blue runner fry (sawrell) and very small amberjacks (cervjol) enjoying their time among the harmless tentacles of these jellyfish. I will not be amazed to learn that even other fry use this species as hosts, tuna and its variants come to mind. I stand to be corrected.
Jesmond Ciantar
Aug 31st 2010, 12:15
Phacellophora camtschatica, known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish, with a bell up to 60 cm (2 ft) in diameter and sixteen clusters of up to a few dozen tentacles, each up to 6 meters (20 ft) long. This cool-water species can be found in many parts of the world's oceans. It feeds mostly on smaller jellyfish and other gelatinous zooplankton, which become ensnared in the tentacles (Strand & Hamner, 1988). Because the sting of this jellyfish is so weak, many small crustaceans, including larval crabs (Cancer gracilis) and Amphipoda, regularly ride on its bell and even steal food from its oral arms and tentacles (Towanda & Thuesen, 2006). The life cycle of this jellyfish is well known (Widmer 2006), because it is kept in culture at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It alternates between a benthic stage that is attached to rocks and piers that reproduces asexually and the planktonic stage that reproduces sexually in the water column; there are both males and females in the plankton.
A smaller jellyfish, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, typically found in warmer water, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, is also popularly called a fried egg jellyfish.
f rancesca vincenti
Aug 31st 2010, 11:50
It is important to inform the public that these jellyfish are NOT dangerous and that the sting is so mild that it is almost non-existent. I have seen too many individuals slaughter these harmless creatures indisciminately, out of fear. Please do include such information in such articles to help protect our seas and educate as much as possible.
patrick zammit
Aug 31st 2010, 11:53
Good point, prosit.
Clayton Axiak
Aug 31st 2010, 12:34
Note that the term 'innocuous' refers to its harmless nature.
E Compagno
Sep 1st 2010, 11:00
Just last week a group of teenagers were fishing them out of the sea. I thought the jellyfish looked strange, until I fished one out and recognised it.. I told them it was supposed to be harmless and put the jellyfish back in as the group looked at me like I were mad. hahaha. It IS a strange feeling to swim around jellyfish, especially if you have been stung by the purple ones. It's not nice.