Helminth communities of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from Central and Western Mediterranean Sea: The importance of host's ontogeny

Recent studies showed that regional abundance of loggerhead and leatherback turtles could oscillate interannually according to oceanographic and climatic conditions. The Western Mediterranean is an important fishing area for the Spanish drifting longline fleet, which mainly targets swordfish, bluefin tuna, and albacore. Due to the spatial overlapping in fishing activity and turtle distribution, there is an increasing sea turtle conservation concern. The main goal of this study is to analyse the interannual bycatch of loggerhead and leatherback turtles by the Spanish Mediterranean longline fishery and to test the relationship between the total turtle by-catch of this fishery and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). During the 14 years covered in this study, the number of sea turtle bycatches was 3,940 loggerhead turtles and 8 leatherback turtles, 0.499 loggerhead turtles/1000 hooks and 0.001014 leatherback turtles/1000 hooks. In the case of the loggerhead turtle the positive phase of the NAO favours an increase of loggerhead turtles in the Western Mediterranean Sea. However, in the case of leatherback turtle the negative phase of the NAO favours the presence of leatherback turtle. This contraposition could be related to the different ecophysiological response of both species during their migration cycle.

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Variation in spatial distribution of juvenile loggerhead turtles in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology ◽

10.1016/j.jembe.2009.03.007 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 373 (2) ◽

pp. 79-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Catalina Monzón-Argüello ◽

Ciro Rico ◽

Carlos Carreras ◽

Pascual Calabuig ◽

Adolfo Marco ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea ◽

Loggerhead Turtles

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Abundance of Pelagia noctiluca early life stages in the western Mediterranean Sea scales with surface chlorophyll

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13423 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

D Ottmann ◽

D Álvarez-Berastegui ◽

L Prieto ◽

R Balbín ◽

F Alemany ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Early Life ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Life Stages ◽

Early Life Stages ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea ◽

Pelagia Noctiluca

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A closer look at the bycatch of medium‐sized and large sharks in the northern Catalan coast (north‐western Mediterranean Sea): Evidence of an ongoing decline?

Aquatic Conservation Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

10.1002/aqc.3651 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ignasi Nuez ◽

Manel Gazo ◽

Luis Cardona

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea ◽

Catalan Coast ◽

North Western

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Parasites of the head of Scomber colias (Osteichthyes: Scombridae) from the western Mediterranean Sea

Acta Parasitologica ◽

10.2478/s11686-014-0207-5 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 59 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Salvatore Mele ◽

Maria Pennino ◽

Maria Piras ◽

José Bellido ◽

Giovanni Garippa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Parasite Fauna ◽

Point Of View ◽

Published Data ◽

Multivariate Techniques ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea ◽

Scomber Colias ◽

Non Parametric

AbstractThe metazoan parasite assemblage of the head of 30 specimens of the Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) from the western Mediterranean Sea was analysed. Eight species of parasites were found, four mazocraeid monogeneans: Grubea cochlear (prevalence = 10%), Kuhnia scombercolias (59%), K. scombri (52%), Pseudokuhnia minor (86%); three didymozoid trematodes: Nematobothrium cf. faciale (21%), N. filiforme (41%), N. scombri (7%); and one laerneopodid copepod: Clavelissa scombri (7%). Results were compared with previously published data from 14 localities of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, using non-parametric univariate and multivariate analyses, and the whole parasite fauna of S. colias was compared with that of the congeners (S. australasicus, S. japonicus and S. scombrus). Parasites showed to reflect the biogeographical and phylogenetic history of host. From a methodological point of view, the use of both non-parametric univariate and multivariate techniques proved to be effective tools to detect dissimilarities between parasite assemblages.

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An algorithmic model for invasive species: Application to Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl) C. Agardh development in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Ecological Modelling ◽

10.1016/s0304-3800(98)00058-1 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 109 (3) ◽

pp. 251-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

David Hill ◽

Patrick Coquillard ◽

Jean de Vaugelas ◽

Alexandre Meinesz

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Caulerpa Taxifolia ◽

The North ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea ◽

Algorithmic Model ◽

North Western

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Dynamical Downscaling of ERA5 Data on the North-Western Mediterranean Sea: From Atmosphere to High-Resolution Coastal Wave Climate

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering ◽

10.3390/jmse9020208 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 208

Author(s):

Valentina Vannucchi ◽

Stefano Taddei ◽

Valerio Capecchi ◽

Michele Bendoni ◽

Carlo Brandini

Keyword(s):

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Wind Wave ◽

Dynamical Downscaling ◽

Wave Climate ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

Limited Area ◽

Computational Domain ◽

Wave Hindcast ◽

The North ◽

Western Mediterranean Sea

A 29-year wind/wave hindcast is produced over the Mediterranean Sea for the period 1990–2018. The dataset is obtained by downscaling the ERA5 global atmospheric reanalyses, which provide the initial and boundary conditions for a numerical chain based on limited-area weather and wave models: the BOLAM, MOLOCH and WaveWatch III (WW3) models. In the WW3 computational domain, an unstructured mesh is used. The variable resolutions reach up to 500 m along the coasts of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas (Italy), the main objects of the study. The wind/wave hindcast is validated using observations from coastal weather stations and buoys. The wind validation provides velocity correlations between 0.45 and 0.76, while significant wave height correlations are much higher—between 0.89 and 0.96. The results are also compared to the original low-resolution ERA5 dataset, based on assimilated models. The comparison shows that the downscaling improves the hindcast reliability, particularly in the coastal regions, and especially with regard to wind and wave directions.

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