摘要:The American comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi , was first noted off the central Mediterranean coast of Israel on 3 March 2009, when a swarm interfered with the operation of a desalination plant. Throughout the spring dense populations have been recorded along the entire Israeli coast. The occurrence of M. leidyi in the SE Levant is of great concern because its notorious impacts on fisheries and because its swarms clog seawater intake pipes and hamper the operation of coastal installations.