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•Changes in the structure and abundance of macroalgae.•Long term decline in the number of canopy-forming algal taxa.•Critical loss in the coverage of canopy-forming algal taxa.•Shifts ...from canopy-forming to turf-forming algal taxa.
Canopy-forming macroalgae, especially those belonging to the order Fucales, are creating the so-called brown algal forests that are considered amongst the most productive assemblages in the shallow coastal area. Moreover, they are biological indicators that are used for the assessment of the status of coastal belts according to important European Directives. Along Mediterranean rocky coasts they are disappearing quickly, Cystoseira species (sensu lato) in particular, and are gradually being replaced by turf-forming smaller and persistent algae, due to multiple anthropogenic pressures. The scope of this research was to verify changes in macrophyte structure and abundance, especially canopy-forming taxa, and the loss of Cystoseira s.l. species at two reference sites for macroalgae in the northern Adriatic Sea, during the period 2007–2019. At both sites, the decline of total Cystoseira s.l. spp. coverage (%) was substantial, both in the spring and autumn samples, while some rare and sensitive species were not found during the last surveys. The results of this study should help improving the conservation status of important canopy-forming species, focusing on the revitalisation of benthic critical habitats.
Although there is a high number of publications listing fish species in the Adriatic, only a few have focused on chondrichthyans, while their conservation status has been investigated even less. ...Thus, this paper aims to provide an updated and annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans occurring in the Adriatic waters with their presence and conservation status. Each species is evaluated against the criteria defined in IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List Categories and Criteria and according to the guidelines for national and regional level assessments. In total, 60 chondrichthyan species from 27 families and 42 genera are listed. The list contains 33 species of sharks, 26 species of rays and one chimera. Assessment of the conservation status reveals that three species are now considered Regionally Extinct (namely Squatina oculata, Pristis pectinata and Rhinobatos rhinobatos). A total of 21 species are assessed as Critically Endangered, 8 are Endangered and 10 are Vulnerable. Of the remaining species, six are Near Threatened and the same number of species are Least Concern and Data Deficient. Considering that the principal driver of chondrichthyan decline and regional extinction is overfishing, it is recommended that the Adriatic countries adopt the same management measures and strengthen their coordination.
We investigated the concentration and composition of plastics in 7 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) from the Gulf of Venice (northern Adriatic Sea). A total of 42 sediment samples were analyzed ...from 21 sites from 2017 to 2018. All sites except one were found to be polluted by plastics, with density ranging between 2250 and 28.4 items kg
−1
. Microplastics ranged from 100 to 61.6% of the collected plastics. Fragments were more represented than filaments. The greatest plastic concentrations were generally recorded in western SACs. Identification through FT-IR spectroscopy evidenced the presence of 8 polymer types: in western SACS, the majority were low-density polymers (PE, PP, PS, and TPU), while in eastern SACs they were high-density polymers (PET, nylon, and PVC). In addition to the role of large rivers (all on the western side of the Gulf) in conveying plastics into the sea, a possible role of the cyclonic water circulation of the northern Adriatic Sea on distribution and composition of plastics along the Gulf coasts is likely.
A specimen of common thresher shark
(Bonnaterre 1788) was caught in a fishing net in the waters off Piran (Gulf of Trieste, northern Adriatic Sea). It was a juvenile male with a total length of 2841 ...mm. In recent decades, other cases of juvenile specimens of common thresher shark have been recorded in Slovenian coastal waters. Despite the drastic decline in the population of this species, thresher shark continues to be caught in local Adriatic fisheries.
The paper presents an analysis of biogeographic and habitat distribution patterns, and the conservation status data of Adriatic fishes, based on the last published checklist and evidence-based ...critical analyses of species presence. The total number of species recorded in the Adriatic is 449. The Adriatic has 58.8% of Mediterranean species richness, 76.1% of its families, and 87.8% of its orders. Among species discovered in the Adriatic after 2010, twelve species were attributed to biological invasion, mostly Atlantic immigrants or alien species, and ten species were attributed to improved research on the native ichthyofauna of the Adriatic area. About 58% of species are native species of Atlanto-Mediterranean origin, 21% are native species of wider global occurrence, 15% are Mediterranean or Mediterranean and Black Sea endemics and 5% originated outside Mediterranean Sea. The majority of species inhabit the benthic environment (71.9%), while others occur in the pelagic environment (20.7%) or are euryhaline (7.3%). The benthic littoral species are the most numerous Adriatic fishes, representing 40% of all species richness, whereas pelagic fishes are mainly eurybathic or epipelagic; only 3.6% of species are deep pelagic species. A Red Book of marine fishes of the Adriatic Sea is urgently needed to assess their conservation status, covering the entire Adriatic Sea and reviewing all fish species to assess their conservation status.
Serranus scriba is a common member of the coastal fish community in the Adriatic Sea, but knowledge about its feeding ecology is scarce. The aim of this paper is to present new evidence about its ...food preferences and feeding habits. An innovative non-destructive method of fecal pellet analysis was used for this study. This method does not require sacrificing specimens and the fish can be released back into the sea alive after the laboratory work. The results demonstrated that S. scriba mainly preys on decapods, followed by polychaetes, isopods, fish, mollusks and swarming shrimps. The calculated index of trophic diversity (ITD) value of 0.89 indicates that it is an opportunistic feeder that feeds on a wide range of different prey. According to the calculated trophic level of 3.43, which is higher than that of other members of the community, S. scriba is also an important piscivorous predator. With age, S. scriba undergoes an ontogenetic shift. The proportion of crustaceans, gastropods and polychaetes decreases with age and body size, while the proportion of fish increases.
In the northern Adriatic Sea, rocky outcrops called “trezze” or “tegnúe” are known as biodiversity hotspots. A total of 45 rocky outcrops were studied by using non-destructive photographic sampling ...during SCUBA diving. Ten invertebrate phyla with 196 taxa were recorded, 86% of which were determined at species level. Among them, 65% of the taxa were sessile, primarily represented by the phyla Porifera and Chordata. The aims of the study were: to characterize the species richness and composition of epifaunal invertebrates living on rocky outcrops; to test the efficiency of using the outcrop area as a predictor of epifauna richness, using the Arrhenius Species-Area Relationship (SAR) model; and to compare the expected richness resulting from the SAR model with the richness observed from the analysis of random photo-squares. Our results show that the SAR model describes the relationship between epibenthic species richness and outcrop size well and may have important practical applications for biodiversity estimations and nature conservation implications. It provides a useful tool, also in terms of economy and speed, to estimate the species richness of the benthic epifauna of the numerous outcrops that remain unsurveyed, based on their size.
The authors studied the structure of the coastal fish assemblage in a temperate coral reef within a marine protected area in order to provide a baseline information on the occurrence and temporal ...distribution of fish and to highlight the importance of the coral reef to ichthyofauna. The coastal fish assemblage was investigated at two sites in Veliko jezero (Mljet National Park) in the southern Adriatic Sea with a non-destructive SCUBA visual technique in the period from 2013 to 2021. Altogether, 38 fish taxa were recorded on the right bank (coral reef) and 36 species on the left bank. The presence of the coral reef at a depth range between 9 m to 12 m is the main factor differentiating the fish fauna in these two areas, which are otherwise governed by the same environmental factors. At the coral reef a decrease in fish diversity was discovered with a steady regression from 2013 to 2021.
Cryptobenthic fishes were often overlooked in the past due to their cryptic lifestyle, so knowledge of their ecology is still incomplete. One of the most poorly studied taxa of fishes in the ...Mediterranean Sea is clingfish. In this paper we examine the habitat preferences of three clingfish species (Lepadogaster lepadogaster, L. candolii, and Apletodon incognitus) occurring in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic). The results show that all three species have a cryptic lifestyle and are well-segregated based on their depth distribution and macro- and microhabitat preferences. L. lepadogaster inhabits shallow waters of the lower mediolittoral and upper infralittoral, where it occurs on rocky bottoms under stones. L. candolii similarly occurs in the rocky infralittoral under stones, but below the lower distribution limit of L. lepadogaster, and in seagrass meadows, where it occupies empty seashells. Such hiding places in seagrass meadows are also occupied by A. incognitus, which mostly occurs below the lower distribution limit of L. candolii. Despite the overlap of depth and macrohabitat, the probability of individuals of two species encountering each other or competing in the same habitat is low when the depth range is combined with the microhabitat preferences of these species.
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