Notes on the recent occurrence of uncommon pelagic “jellyfish” species in Maltese coastal waters

Abstract

There is a dearth of published works on sightings of uncommon pelagic jellyfish species within Maltese coastal waters, with a handful of disparate published reports and with most other existing relevant information being carried in newspapers and other grey literature portals. This study seeks to address such a dearth by compiling the confirmed (through specimen collection in most cases, or simply through photography in some cases) sightings for the hydrozoans Porpita porpita, Velella velella, Olindias phosphorica, Physalia physalis and Aequorea sp. made within Maltese coastal waters during the August 2009-August 2010 period.