Planktongeschwabbel

Net hauls have so far provided valuable insights into the gelatinous zooplankton communities along our transect from the Mediterranean Sea into the North Atlantic Ocean. While our sampling sites in the Strait of Gibraltar were mostly populated by pelagic tunicates (salps), several hydromedusae (A. Liriope sp. with abundances of up to 1 ind. m-3), the siphonophore Velella velella (B) and the ctenophore Pleurobrachia pileus (C) were dominant along the Portuguese shoreline.

In some cases, we observed artificial fibers attached to various morphological structures of the jellies. We have so far prepared ca. 250 jellyfish samples for subsequent in-depth analysis of associated microplastic particles.