THE EARTH, ONE SHOT AT A TIME.

The communities that make up marine biodiversity are very sensitive to environmental changes to which they react quickly, serving as a useful indicator to assess the environmental impact caused by natural events or anthropogenic activity.

🔬 Scientific Monitoring

Monitoring at sea for this group of organisms requires constant effort to ensure that sporadic events do not go completely unnoticed. Such random events, caused by phenomena like storms or very windy days, are of great scientific value because they can contribute to the stranding of marine organisms that are very difficult to sample.

🦑 Key Species

Two of the most well-known examples are the strandings of Velella velella, commonly called the "By-the-wind sailor" or "Saint Peter’s Boat", and cases of Cymbulia peronii, also known as the "Venus’ slippers". Monitoring these organisms is vitally important to detect environmental changes as well as sporadic events and anomalies because of their great value as environmental indicators.

📘 Published Article

In 2022, the first case of stranding of Cymbulia parvidentata on the Ligurian coast was reported—an Atlantic species of marine gastropods in the order Pteropoda that suggests a influx of Atlantic waters into the Mediterranean basin. Read the full article on Biodiversity Data Journal

📘 Published Article

Stranding of Porpita porpita (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) on the Ligurian coast: sampling bias or evidence of a warming sea?
Read the full article on Marine and Fisheries Research

🤝 Citizen Science

From the interest in monitoring these organisms and building a database of stranding events comes st[r]anding, a project for collecting information and promoting environmental and scientific awareness by engaging the public through photographic evidence of stranded organisms.

💡 Name Etymology

The page name is deliberately a pun between “spiaggiamento” (from the English stranding) and “standing”. The two words encapsulate the project's intent: monitoring organisms found on the shores and, thanks to citizens interested in contributing to data collection and deepening their knowledge of marine biodiversity, our purpose “remains standing”.

🚀 How to Participate?

It's very simple! Follow these steps to contribute to the project:

1

Observe

Find stranded organisms during your walks

2

Photograph

Take clear, detailed photos of the organism

3

Report

Submit your observation through our form

Start Now

Thanks to your contribution, we will be able to gather extensive information to broaden the knowledge of marine organisms of interest, reveal potential changes in their distribution, and monitor the presence of native and non-native species.

📸 Recent Contributions

The latest reports submitted by the community

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