Megabenthic invertebrate diversity in Mediterranean trawlable soft bottoms: a synthesis of current knowledge

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Published: Jun 9, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.29165
Keywords:
benthos faunal diversity bottom trawl threatened species
CATERINA STAMOULI
Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece & Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Anavyssos, Attiki, Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9795-0093
ARGYRO ZENETOS
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Anavyssos, Attiki, Greece
ARGYRIOS KALLIANIOTIS
Hellenic Agricultural Organization-DEMETER, Fisheries Research Institute of Kavala, Greece
ELENI VOULTSIADOU
Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract

Mediterranean bottom trawling is generally characterised by a highly diversified mixed catch, composed of fish, cephalopods,
crustaceans, and other megabenthic invertebrates. Although management of Mediterranean trawling requires a multispecies approach on a community basis, this does not seem to be the case in the relevant literature. Herein, we present an extensive review of
the existing knowledge on megabenthic invertebrate communities, focusing on the trawlable bottoms. A total of 207 publications
from 1930 to the early 2021 was collected and classified into seven research areas. Research effort on soft bottom megabenthic
invertebrates of trawlable grounds was higher for the Western Mediterranean and the depth zone of 50-200 m. Overall, 1,797 taxa
were reported belonging to different taxonomic groups, the most diverse of which were Mollusca, Crustacea, Polychaeta, and
Porifera. Among the reported taxa, 43 species are alien to the Mediterranean Sea, and 42 are included in the lists of threatened/ endangered and protected species under the Barcelona and Bern Conventions. The Western Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea were
the ecoregions with the highest number of megabenthic invertebrate species reported from trawlable grounds. All Mediterranean
ecoregions were grouped according to their megabenthic fauna at a similarity level of 27%. The present work compiles the known
scattered information, highlights knowledge gaps, and underlines the need for time series data on the megabenthic communities
of the Mediterranean fishing grounds.

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