42 Results Found

This study is the first attempt to understand the coccolith flux and its seasonal variability at the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea. Samples were obtained from the deepest Mediterranean time-series sediment trap (4300 m) moored in the SE Ionia...

European hake, Merluccius merluccius L. 1758, is a highly valuable demersal fish species exploited in both the east Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Changes in the size-at-maturity of this species have been reported in various geographic areas. Si...

This study investigates the intricate dynamics of siliceous plankton species within the open marine regions of the Greek Seas, focusing on their seasonal and spatial variability. For this purpose, vertical export fluxes of diatoms (DtF), silicoflagel...

This paper presents the results of an analysis of stranding events of the Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus over a decade. The analysis involved categorization according to the cause of stranding and seasonality, the identification of hotspot...

Relatively scant information is available on the Risso’s dolphin in comparison to the other species regularly present in the Mediterranean Sea. Recently, its conservation status has been updated to Endangered by the International Union for Cons...

Understanding the trophic interactions and community structure of zooplankton is essential for assessing energy transfer in marine ecosystems. This study investigates the spatial and seasonal variations in stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (&de...

Accurate checklists of species are essential for evaluating their conservation status and for understanding more about their distribution, biology and ecology and, therefore, the first step in order to effectively protect them. According to the exist...

The Mediterranean Sea is a hotspot for the introduction of non-indigenous species. Among them, invasive alien species can seriously affect the areas they colonize, not only by altering the marine food webs and community structure, but also by harming...

Species belonging to the superorder Batoidea have been poorly assessed due to the lack of information on their life history aspects and their limited economic value. This work presents an overview of skates and rays inhabiting the marine Greek waters...

Sponge assemblages play a significant role in the functioning of the Mediterranean benthic ecosystem. The main goal of this study was to investigate the diversity and distribution of poorly known sponge communities in the mesophotic and deep-sea subs...

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. This species has been threatened since ancient times by human activities and currently amounts to approximately 700 individuals distributed in...

The formation of dense water in the Aegean Sea is important as it affects the deep circulation and the hydrography of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. In this study, the variability of dense water formation is investigated in relation to forcing mechan...

The biocenosis of coarse sand and gravel exposed to bottom currents (SGCF) is the typical habitat of the amphioxus Branchiostoma lanceolatum (Pallas, 1774). This species and the habitat where it lives are threatened, and there are few reports of this...

Offshore data in the western Ionian Sea indicate that the NW–SE-trending dextral shear zone of the Alfeo-Etna Fault System turns to the N–S direction near the Ionian coastline, where the extensional Timpe Fault System is located. Morpho-structural da...

The Mediterranean Sea is considered a hot spot of global warming because it has been changing faster than the global ocean, creating a strong impact on the marine environment. Recent studies agree on the increase in the sea level, in the sea surface...

The assessment of the economic impacts of marine invasive species is fundamental for adopting mitigation measures, yet such impacts have been underreported in the Mediterranean Sea. The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) is a toxic puf...

The investigation of Pleistocene fluvial terraces in the small river valley of the Pescogrosso Stream and surrounding areas has shown a complex and positive location for the study of a fluvial catchment development. The Pescogrosso Stream is a left t...

The sea surface temperature (SST) is an important factor and indicator of the sea water quality, with various ecological and anthropogenic implications. We used high-resolution satellite-derived SST data, in tandem with field observations and long-te...

Reliable stock identification constitutes an integral component of effective fishery management. Current methods for the identification of putative stock units comprise the analysis of both phenotypic and genetic variability. The present study examin...

The summer of 2024 witnessed record-high sea surface temperatures (SST) across the Aegean, Ionian, and Cretan Seas (AICS), following unprecedented air heatwaves over the sea under a long-term warming trend of 0.46 °C/decade for the mean atmospher...

A big number of Red Sea species have entered the Mediterranean Sea since the opening of the Suez Canal. Some of them quickly establish local populations and increase their abundance, forming a potential threat for local biodiversity and fisheries. He...

Copepod communities were studied along an east-west transect in the oligotrophic Southern Adriatic Sea. This dynamic region is under the influence of various physical forces, including winter vertical convection, lateral exchanges between coastal and...

With so many studies today on the water quality of the sea, one can hardly comprehend the multitude of topics that arise all over the world. This study provides a few graphic syntheses related to the most frequent words (including their clustering an...

The lack of historical data on shark presence, distribution, and status in the Eastern Mediterranean undermines efforts to manage and protect their populations. An exhaustive review of anecdotal references related to shark presence during the early a...

This study conducts a diagnostic analysis of an extremely heavy rainfall event and its causative factors that occurred in Libya, North Africa on 10 September 2023. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was also employed to perform some sen...

Although marine caves are among the most species-diverse habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, most available studies have focused on their sessile fauna. This study provides the first quantitative assessment of motile fauna in 27 marine caves across fo...

The study examined the extent of the cetacean strandings in Italy, with a particular focus on Sicily Island. The paper aimed to contribute to the description of a pattern that contemplates the “regular and rare” cetacean species passage along the Sic...

This study provides new insights regarding the ecology and phenology of the likely non-indigenous canopy-forming species Sargassum furcatum on the central-eastern coast of Sicily (Italy, Central Mediterranean). This species was described for St. Thom...

The effect of thermophilic species invasion in the eastern Mediterranean is well-noted in the literature. During the last decade in western Greek waters, small-scale fisheries (SSF) catches exhibit increased relative contribution of rabbitfishes, whi...

The Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) and the Mediterranean horse mackerel (T. mediterraneus) are two commercially important species whose biological traits remain insufficiently studied in the Central Mediterranean Sea. This study examin...

The Malta-Sicily Channel is part of the Sicily Channel system where water and thermohaline properties between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean basins take place. Several mesoscales features are detached from the main circulation due to wind and...

S. sphyraena is a widely distributed species with low commercial value and no sufficient scientific knowledge of its biology. In the present study, the age, growth, weight–length relationship, otolith morphometry, and reproduction of the specie...

This paper introduces a climatic multi-hazard risk assessment for Greece, as the first-ever attempt to enhance scientific knowledge for the identification and definition of hazards, a critical element of risk-informed decision making. Building on an...

Caulerpa cylindracea, Indo-Pacific and thermophilic macroalgal species, have spread in Italian coastal waters, especially in the western Mediterranean Sea. Also, along the Calabria coastline, this Invasive Alien Species (IAS) was able to colonize mos...

The Mediterranean region is characterized by its vulnerability to changes in the water cycle, with the impact of global warming on the water resources being one of the major concerns in social, economical and scientific ambits. Even if precipitation...

The bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, has been vanishing since 2016 from the whole basin because of an infection by multiple pathogens that caused mass mortality events. In the Eastern Mediterranean, some small populati...

The 4 February 1867 Cephalonia (Western Greece) earthquake is the largest in the Ionian Islands and one of the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, it remained one of the least studied historical events. For reconstructing this earthquake,...

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology presents an innovative method for marine monitoring by adapting existing underwater optical fiber networks. This paper examines the use of DAS with the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare–Laborato...

This study investigates the dynamics of the development phases of a Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone (medicane) in the southern Ionian Sea, on 28 September 2018 that caused high impact phenomena in the central and eastern Mediterranean, focusing o...

Augusta Bay is an embayment of the Hyblean sector in south-eastern Sicily (Southern Italy) that faces the Ionian Sea and includes the Rada di Augusta, a wide littoral sector sheltered by breakwaters, which hosts intense harbor activities. Rada di Aug...

The authentication of food products and the verification of their identity are of major importance for consumers. Food fraud through mislabeling is an illegal practice consisting of the substitution of an expensive food product by a relatively cheape...

The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann 1824; Diptera, Tephritidae), is considered one of the most important pests, infesting more than 300 species of fresh fruit and vegetables worldwide. The medfly is an important invasi...