Malta - Ocean Biodiversity Information System

Malta

Statistics

Occurrence records	9,441
Species level	8,387
Species	908
Taxa	1,217
Datasets	73
Time range	1842 - 2019

Data quality

Dropped records

Dropped records	0
Not marine	97
No WoRMS match	136
No coordinates	0
Zero coordinates	0

Taxonomic issues

Marine unsure	20
No accepted name available	117

Missing and invalid fields

Field	Missing	Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters	22,235	66
eventDate	707	0
maximumDepthInMeters	2,497	15
minimumDepthInMeters	2,295	15
occurrenceStatus	1,071	0
scientificName	36	0
scientificNameID	729	23

Spatial issues

Records on land	424
More than 20 km from shore	0
Depth exceeds bathymetric depth	316

Top datasets

Dataset	Records
ClimateFish: A database to track the abundance of selected coastal fish species as candidate indicators of climate change Published 2025-03-20	4,598
IBSS historical data from different cruises Published 2025-03-20	848
Satellite-tracking of loggerhead sea turtles tracked from western Mediterranean Published 2025-03-20	707
BIOMAERL.Maerl Biodiversity.Functional Structure And Antropogenic Impacts (1996-1998). Published 2023-02-23	507
FishBase Database Published 2023-03-23	472
Phytoplankton data collected in the Black Sea, Bosphorus area, Marmara Sea, Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Tunisian Strait, and Mediterranean Sea during the 65th cruise of the R/V "Kovalevskiy" in 1969-1970 Published 2025-03-20	306
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Mollusca Collection (Mollusca) Published 2025-03-20	236
Diveboard - Scuba diving citizen science observations Published 2025-03-20	217
PANGAEA - Data from Climatic variability of the Mediterranean Paleo-circulation (CLIVAMP) Published 2025-03-20	172
The fishes collection (IC) of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN - Paris) Published	165

Distribution

Disclaimer: EEZ boundaries based on Marine Regions (no endorsement).

Records

Composition

detailed (class) simple

Top taxa

Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa

Scientific name	Records
Coris julis (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1,079
Serranus scriba (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1,078
Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) VU Phylum Chordata	852
Sparisoma cretense (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	850
Thalassoma pavo (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	656
Sarpa salpa (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	371
Serranus cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	354
Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	197
Gephyrocapsa huxleyi (Lohmann) P.Reinhardt, 1972 Phylum Haptophyta > Class Coccolithophyceae	45
Siganus luridus (Rüppell, 1829) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	39

Newest species

Scientific name	Records	Since
Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) VU Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca	5	2018
Scyllarides latus (Latreille, 1803) Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca	1	2018
Caulerpa taxifolia (M.Vahl) C.Agardh, 1817 Phylum Chlorophyta > Class Ulvophyceae	11	2018
Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) Phylum Echinodermata > Class Echinoidea	8	2017
Leptopsammia pruvoti Lacaze-Duthiers, 1897 Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	5	2017
Centrostephanus longispinus (Philippi, 1845) Phylum Echinodermata > Class Echinoidea	8	2016
Cladocora caespitosa (Linnaeus, 1767) EN Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	8	2016
Astroides calycularis (Pallas, 1766) Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	3	2016
Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) europaea (Risso, 1827) Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	10	2016
Caulerpa cylindracea Sonder, 1845 Phylum Chlorophyta > Class Ulvophyceae	9	2016

Data providers

Name	Records
Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee	7,529
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Institute of Marine Sciences	4,627
Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer, IFREMER, Centre de Brest	4,602
The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn	4,602
Italian National Research Council	4,602
Universidad de Alicante	4,602
Università Politecnica delle Marche	4,602
Université de Tunis El Manar	4,602
The University of Alicante; Departamento Ciencias del Mar y Biología Aplicada	4,602
Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Croatia	4,598