Malta and Gozo: an undersea adventure

699 12 2

Most possibly Maltese Dwarf elephants were still roaming the archipelago when the first settlers, stone-age hunters and farmers, set foot on the islands more than 7.500 years ago. Since then the impact of man on nature in Malta increased steadily. Nowadays conservation organisations are working hard to protect what is left – on land and in the sea. Acclaimed the “Best diving site of the Mediterranean” the offshore waters of Gozo attract thousands of divers and snorkelers every year. Some sites are still teeming with barracudas, amberjacks, dentex and large groupers. Tiny sea-horses, many species of small fish and crustaceans call the endangered underwater Posidonia meadows their home.

(c) Wild Wonders of Europe

Published: 2012-05-19 19:00:54 UTC

2/10

Common Octopus

The Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) is the most studied of all octopus species. Its natural range extends from the Mediterranean Sea and the southern coast of England to at least Senegal in Africa. Training experiments have shown that the Common Octopus can distinguish the brightness, size, shape, and horizontal or vertical orientation of objects. They are intelligent enough to learn how to unscrew a jar and are known to raid lobster traps.

3/10

Fan worm (Spirographis spallanzani)

Sabellidae (feather duster worms) are sedentary marine polychaete tube worms where the head is mostly concealed by feathery branchiae. They build tubes out of parchment, sand, and bits of shell. They tend to be common in the intertidal zones around the world.

4/10

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Captive

Not long ago one of the most common fish in Europe, and the economic backbone of many Mediterranean cultures throughout the ages, the bluefin tuna has been the foundation of one of the world’s most lucrative commercial fisheries. After decades of severe industrial overfishing by amongst others an over-sized European fishing fleet, this fantastic resource is now poised on the very brink of extinction. If that fishing isn’t banned very soon, the magnificent tuna will be gone forever. The governments of all 27 EU countries in 2010 decided to back the international ban on trade in blufin tuna. Let us hope the world follows suit.

5/10

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Captive

Bluefin tuna are very large, long-lived fish that normally gather together in huge schools. They can reach 30 years of age and the heaviest recorded tuna to date weighed 680 kilos. The Atlantic population of bluefin tuna is estimated to have decreased by 97 % since the 1960s. In recent years, the European fishing fleet has still been taking 60,000 tons of tuna annually, in spite of a sustainable harvest being estimated at 7,500 tons. This is a fish that we should all immediately refrain from eating! The senseless overfishing of the tuna is a disaster of historical proportions. That is also why this photo had to be taken in captivity, at a tuna breeding facility. These fish have now all been served as Sushi.

6/10

Short-snouted seahorse

The short-snouted seahorse, Hippocampus hippocampus, is a species of seahorse in the family Syngnathidae. It is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the North Atlantic, particularly around Italy and the Canary Islands. Their preferred habitat is shallow muddy waters, estuaries or seagrass beds.

7/10

Common Spiny Lobster

Palinurus elephas is a spiny lobster, which is commonly caught in the Mediterranean Sea. It lives on rocky exposed coasts below the intertidal zone, mainly at depths of 20 to 70 metres. It is a much sought-after delicacy and is widely caught for food around the Mediterranean Sea, mostly with lobster pots, and is also caught less intensively off the Atlantic Coasts of Ireland, Portugal, France and England.

8/10

Pelagia noctiluca

Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae. In Latin, Pelagia means "of the sea", nocti stands for night and luca means light thus Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark. As its name implies P. noctiluca has the ability to bioluminesce, or produce light. Light is given off in the form of flashes when the medusa is stimulated by turbulence created by a ship’s motion or by waves.

9/10

Maja squinado

Maja squinado is a species of migratory crab found in the north-east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.

10/10

Common Cuttlefish

The Common Cuttlefish or European Common Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is one of the largest and best known cuttlefish species. It grows to 49 cm in mantle length (ML) and 4 kg in weight. It lives on sand and mud seabeds to a depth of around 200 m. As in most cuttlefish species, spawning occurs in shallow waters.