Plastic debris ingested by deep-water fish of the Ionian Sea (Eastern Mediterranean)

Abstract. For the first time it was possible to investigate a still poorly known region of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Libyan continental margin. An oceanographic cruise, performed during summer 2006, revealed an important and novel feature: a dense vein flowing along the continental slope. The paper describes the vein evolution with some insights on its dynamic and furnishes an estimate of its transport, which results to be comparable with the Adriatic Deep Water production rate. The cascading into a steep canyon which incises the continental shelf suggests that the vein may play an important role in ventilating the deep layers of the Ionian Sea.

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New records of rare deep-water fish species in the Eastern Ionian Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

Journal of Natural History ◽

10.1080/00222933.2013.775372 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 47 (25-28) ◽

pp. 1645-1662 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Chryssi Mytilineou ◽

Aikaterini Anastasopoulou ◽

George Christides ◽

Petros Bekas ◽

Chris J. Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Fish Species ◽

Deep Water ◽

New Records ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

Water Fish

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Two new records of deep-water fish species from the eastern Mediterranean

Marine Biodiversity Records ◽

10.1017/s1755267206005410 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

D. Golani ◽

M. Gökoglu ◽

O. Güven

Keyword(s):

Fish Species ◽

Deep Water ◽

New Records ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Water Fish

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The diet and feeding ecology of Conger conger (L. 1758) in the deep waters of the Eastern Ionian Sea

Mediterranean Marine Science ◽

10.12681/mms.479 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 365 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. ANASTASOPOULOU ◽

CH. MYTILINEOU ◽

E. LEFKADITOU ◽

S. KAVADAS ◽

P. BEKAS ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Feeding Strategy ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

Feeding Intensity ◽

Deep Waters ◽

Conger Eel ◽

First Time ◽

Mediterranean Fish ◽

Conger Conger

The diet of the European conger eel Conger conger was investigated for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fish dominated the European conger eel diet in the deep waters of E. Ionian Sea. All other prey taxa were identified as accidental preys. However, intestine analysis showed that Natantia, Brachyura and Cephalopoda might have a more important contribution in the diet of the species. C. conger exhibited a benthopelagic feeding behavior as it preyed upon both demersal and mesopelagic taxa. The high vacuity index and the low stomach and intestine fullness indicated that the feeding intensity of the species in the deep waters of Eastern Ionian Sea was quite low. C. conger feeding strategy was characterised by specialisation in various resource items. A between-phenotype contribution to niche width was observed for some prey categories. European Conger eel feeding specialisation seemed to be an adaptation to a food-scarce environment, as typified in deep-water habitats

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Ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea constrained by multiple transient tracer measurements

Ocean Science ◽

10.5194/os-10-439-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 439-457 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

T. Stöven ◽

T. Tanhua

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Inverse Gaussian ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

One Dimensional ◽

Levantine Basin ◽

The Mean ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Transient Tracer

Abstract. Ventilation is the primary pathway for atmosphere–ocean boundary perturbations, such as temperature anomalies, to be relayed to the ocean interior. It is also a conduit for gas exchange between the interface of atmosphere and ocean. Thus it is a mechanism whereby, for instance, the ocean interior is oxygenated and enriched in anthropogenic carbon. The ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea is fast in comparison to the world ocean and has large temporal variability. Here we present transient tracer data from a field campaign in April 2011 that sampled a unique suite of transient tracers (SF6, CFC-12, 3H and 3He) in all major basins of the Mediterranean. We apply the transit time distribution (TTD) model to the data in order to constrain the mean age, the ratio of the advective / diffusive transport and the number of water masses significant for ventilation. We found that the eastern part of the eastern Mediterranean can be reasonably described with a one-dimensional inverse Gaussian TTD (IG-TTD), and thus constrained with two independent tracers. The ventilation of the Ionian Sea and the western Mediterranean can only be constrained by a linear combination of IG-TTDs. We approximate the ventilation with a one-dimensional, two inverse Gaussian TTD (2IG-TTD) for these areas and demonstrate a possibility of constraining a 2IG-TTD from the available transient tracer data. The deep water in the Ionian Sea has a mean age between 120 and 160 years and is therefore substantially older than the mean age of the Levantine Basin deep water (60–80 years). These results are in contrast to those expected by the higher transient tracer concentrations in the Ionian Sea deep water. This is partly due to deep water of Adriatic origin having more diffusive properties in transport and formation (i.e., a high ratio of diffusion over advection), compared to the deep water of Aegean Sea origin that still dominates the deep Levantine Basin deep water after the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s. The tracer minimum zone (TMZ) in the intermediate of the Levantine Basin is the oldest water mass with a mean age up to 290 years. We also show that the deep western Mediterranean has contributed approximately 40% of recently ventilated deep water from the Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT) event of the mid-2000s. The deep water has higher transient tracer concentrations than the mid-depth water, but the mean age is similar with values between 180 and 220 years.

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Ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea constrained by multiple transient tracer measurements

Ocean Science Discussions ◽

10.5194/osd-10-1647-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 1647-1705 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

T. Stöven ◽

T. Tanhua

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Deep Water ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Inverse Gaussian ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

Levantine Basin ◽

The Mean ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Transient Tracer

Abstract. Ventilation is the prime pathway for ocean surface perturbations, such as temperature anomalies, to be relayed to the ocean interior. It is also the conduit for gas exchange between atmosphere and ocean and thus the mechanism whereby, for instance, the interior ocean is oxygenated and enriched in anthropogenic carbon. The ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea is fast in comparison to the world ocean and has large temporal variability, so that quantification of Mediterranean Sea ventilation rates is challenging and very relevant for Mediterranean oceanography and biogeochemistry. Here we present transient tracer data from a field-campaign in April 2011 that sampled a unique suite of transient tracers (SF6, CFC-12, tritium and 3He) in all major basins of the Mediterranean. We apply the Transit Time Distribution (TTD) model to the data which then constrain the mean age, the ratio of the advective/diffusive transport mechanism, and the presence, or not, of more than one significant (for ventilation) water mass. We find that the eastern part of the Eastern Mediterranean can be reasonable described with a one dimensional Inverse Gaussian (1IG) TTD, and thus constrained with two independent tracers. The ventilation of the Ionian Sea and the Western Mediterranean can only be constrained by a multidimensional TTD. We approximate the ventilation with a two-dimensional Inverse Gaussian (2IG) TTD for these areas and demonstrate one way of constraining a 2IG-TTD from the available transient tracer data. The deep water in the Ionian Sea has higher mean ages than the deep water of the Levantine Basin despite higher transient tracer concentrations. This is partly due to the deep water of Adriatic origin having more diffusive properties in the transport and formation, i.e. a high ratio of diffusion over advection, compared to the deep water of Aegean Sea origin that still dominates the deep Levantine Basin deep water after the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s. We also show that the deep Western Mediterranean has approximately 40% contribution of recently ventilated deep water from the Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT) event of the mid-2000s. The deep water has higher transient tracer concentrations than the mid-depth water, but the mean age is similar.

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Comparative Reproduction Aspects of the Deep-water ShrimpsAristaeomorpha foliaceaandAristeus antennatus(Decapoda, Aristeidae) in the Greek Ionian Sea (Eastern Mediterranean)

International Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1155/2009/979512 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

K. Kapiris ◽

M. Thessalou-Legaki

Keyword(s):

Deep Water ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Reproductive Activity ◽

Sympatric Species ◽

Ionian Sea ◽

Ovarian Maturation ◽

Mating Activity ◽

Spawning Period ◽

Temporal Shift ◽

Aristeus Antennatus

In the eastern Ionian Sea, the deep-water shrimpsAristaeomorpha foliaceaandAristeus antennatusconstitute a virgin fishing resource, since their maximum abundance depth exceeds commercial exploitation depths. The two sympatric species share a number of common reproductive features, such as summer reproduction. A slight temporal shift in mating activity, ovarian maturation, and spawning period was observed between species. The most notable difference was the more pronounced seasonality in reproductive activity ofAristeus antennatuscompared to that ofA. foliaceaas evidenced by the frequency of inseminated females and functionally mature males, as well as by the shorter ovarian maturation period. Nevertheless, regarding the whole life span, both sexes ofAristeus antennatusexhibit a more extended reproductive activity in comparison toA. foliacea. No notable differentiation of both species existed in comparison to other Mediterranean regions.

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