The Spot the Jellyfish campaign has recorded another rare jellyfish species in Maltese waters – Aequorea sp. – which belongs to the group of crystal jellyfish.

This group of jellyfish, which are innocuous due to a very mild sting, was never officially recorded before in Maltese waters and, since the specimen in question was not collected but just photographed, a full taxonomic identification would not be conducted.

The recording of this species brings to 11 the number of confirmed gelatinous species recorded this summer through a total of 330 reports submitted to the successful Spot the Jellyfish campaign, results of which are being published in a scientific journal.

Aequorea sp. Bioluminesces to attract small crustacean prey in the darkness and in 2008, a group of three scientists was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their isolation of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) from a related jellyfish species – A. victoria.

The Spot the Jellyfish initiative is coordinated by biologist Alan Deidun from the IOI-MOC of the University of Malta, and enjoys the support of the Malta Tourism Authority and 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 7922 2278, 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.