One of the most invasive and impacting marine species in the Mediterranean, the nomadic jellyfish rhopilema nomadica, is moving further west in the Mediterranean.

Spot the Jellyfish campaign coordinator Alan Deidun said the species has been recorded off the western coast of Sicily, at Levanzo in the Aegadian Islands, and off the south-western coast of Sardinia.

He said that ever since its introduction in the Mediterranean in the late 1970s, this Indo-Pacific species moved progressively west, closing off beaches by virtue of its painful sting and coastal power plants in Israel by clogging cooling water intake pipes. It also hampered fishing activities through its sheer numbers. The species normally blooms in summer.

The species was previously recorded in Maltese waters in 2011 by the late Shaun Arrigo but has so far not formed large aggregations, as in other neighbouring countries as Tunisia.

The best treatment for its sting, as highlighted within the Med-Jellyrisk project is through the application of ice packs wrapped in cloth.

This finding has been reported in a scientific paper within the Bioinvasions Records journal and has emerged through the Spot the Jellyfish campaign which is running for the eight consecutive year.

The public is invited to submit their jellyfish photos and reports to this citizen science campaign through the Spot the Jellyfish website, the campaign Facebook page or by email to alan.deidun@gmail.com.

The campaign is coordinated by Prof Deidun from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Malta and is supported financially by the International Ocean Institute and by the Malta Tourism Authority.