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Mediterranean Sea Flora & Fauna

Underwater around Gozo & Malta

These have been categorised by the photographer. If you notice any inaccuracies, please feel free to contact me at divegozo@outlook.com

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Photography credit to Colin Pavitt

Shame-faced crab, (Calappa calappa)
Arthropods

An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. These include Amphipods, Barnacles, Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimp and Sea Spiders 

Neptune Bryozoan Net Coral
Bryozoans

Bryozoa are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about 0.5 millimetres long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia. - Wikipedia 

Fried egg jelly fish
Cnidarians

All cnidarians have venomous cells (cnidocytes) which are used to catch their prey or as a defence against other predators. Cnidarians include jellyfish, Siphonophores, anemones,  stony corals,  sea pens,  and  hydrozonans.

Feather star (Antedon mediterranean)
Echinoderms

These include such well-known sea creatures such as sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or stone lilies.

Green Spoon worm
Marine Worms

Any worm that lives in a marine environment is considered a marine worm. 

Charonia tritonis (Trumpet triton)
Molluscs

Mollusca are invertebrates which are made up from the groups gastropods, opistobranch and cephalopods. These include nudibranchs, Sea Slugs and Sea Hares, Cuttlefish, Octopus and Squid, who are all within the Mollusca group

Tub Gurnard
Fish

Class Osteichthyes: These have skeletons primarily of bone tissue. Fish are gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. 

Common Stingray
 Sharks, Skate & Rays 

Class, Chondrichthyes: These have skeletons primarily of cartilage which include sharks, skates and rays.

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Turtles: Reptilia

A turtle is classified as a reptile rather than an amphibian or a mammal. This classification mainly comes from how turtles begin life. 

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Whales & Dolphins: Mammals

Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. 

Light bulb Sea Squirt, Zooids
Tunicate

Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians, tunicates, and sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of the polysaccharide cellulose. Wikipedia

Orange Encrusting Sponge
Sponges

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are marine filter feeders that have developed efficient defense mechanisms against foreign attackers such as viruses, bacteria, or eukaryotic organisms. Marine sponges are among the richest sources of pharmacologically-active chemicals from marine organisms.

Acetabularia Mediterranea
Seaweeds

These include  types of red, brown and green sea weeds as well as marine algae.

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