Dataset

Global Marine biodiversity data from Seawatchers Marine Citizen Science Platform 1980-2020

EurOBIS MeasurementOrFact Open in mapper Explore occurrences

Observadores del Mar is a marine citizen science platform launched in 2012 devoted to enhancing the understanding of the conservation status of marine ecosystems. The platform hosts 13 projects covering 8 main taxa: corals, jellyfishes, decapod crustaceans, fishes, seaweeds, seagrasses, seabirds and molluscs, in addition to two projects focused on marine litter and reporting information on two main topics: i) biodiversity data focusing mainly on species distribution and abundance, and ii) the impacts of anthropogenic activities (e.g. jellyfish blooms) and associated mid- to long-term changes (e.g. colonization of invasive species). Almost 5500 observations validated by scientists have been already collected resulting in more than 20 scientific papers and communications. The major findings have been new records of introduced and invasive species, tracking the spread of novel pen shell mortality outbreak in the Mediterranean Sea and monitoring microplastic concentration on beaches.

Citation: Chic, Oscar; Garrabou, Joaquim. (2020) Global Marine biodiversity data from Seawatchers Marine Citizen Science Platform between 1980 and 2020 https://dx.doi.org/10.14284/519

Published: September 17, 2025 at 10:11

URL: http://ipt.vliz.be/eurobis/resource?r=observadoresdelmar

Joaquim Garrabou
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Institute of Marine Sciences

Oscar Chic
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Institute of Marine Sciences

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)

9,831
occurrence records
13,823
measurements and facts
491
taxa
441
species

Taxa

Missing and invalid fields

Field Missing Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters 9,831
100.0%
maximumDepthInMeters 4,557
46.4%
minimumDepthInMeters 4,477
45.5%

Quality flags

The OBIS data quality flags are documented at https://github.com/iobis/obis-qc.

Flag Dropped Records
NO_DEPTH 4,477
45.5%
ON_LAND 1,651
16.8%
DEPTH_EXCEEDS_BATH 445
4.5%
NOT_MARINE 35
0.4%
NO_ACCEPTED_NAME 25
0.3%
MARINE_UNSURE 2
0.0%

Measurement types

DNA derived data