Composition of the organismic assemblage associated with Caretta caretta

Author(s):  
Miltiadis-Spyridon Kitsos ◽  
Magdalini Christodoulou ◽  
Christos Arvanitidis ◽  
Michalis Mavidis ◽  
Ioannis Kirmitzoglou ◽  
...  

The organismic assemblage associated with Caretta caretta was studied in 37 loggerhead turtles, washed ashore dead at various localities in the northern Aegean Sea. A total number of 63 macrobenthic species and 17 species of macroalgae were identified. From these species, 41 and 13 respectively are reported for the first time as epibionts of this turtle. Analysis of the epibiont species distribution on six loggerhead turtles gave some evidence regarding the settlement preferences of certain epibiont species. From a biogeographical point of view, 61·3% of the epibiont species were cosmopolitan, 30·7% had an Atlanto-Mediterranean distribution, while 8% were Mediterranean endemics.

1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Voultsiadou-Koukoura ◽  
R.W.M. van Soest

A representative of the genus Hemiasterella Carter, 1879 was found for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea during sampling in the shallow waters of the northern Aegean Sea. The new species, H. aristoteliana, is compared with Atlantic Hemiasterella elongata Topsent, 1928. The status of the family Hemiasterellidae is discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 1991-2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Corsini-Foka ◽  
Gerasimos Kondylatos ◽  
Elias Santorinios

A total of 209 strandings of sea turtles (152 loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta, 42 green turtles Chelonia mydas, 15 unidentified) were recorded during the period 1984–2011 along the coasts of Rhodes (Aegean Sea, Greece). The proportion of dead to live individuals was different in the two species. Stranded Caretta caretta were larger than Chelonia mydas. The size range of stranded green turtles, usually juveniles, appeared to increase since 2000, including the largest specimens ever observed in Greek waters. For both species, a tendency to strand more frequently on the west coast of the island, along fishing ground areas, was noted. The higher incidence of loggerhead turtle strandings was observed in summer, while more green turtle strandings were documented in winter. Factors involved in the increased trend of stranding records of both species, along with the acceleration of this phenomenon in the last decade, are discussed. Data from Rhodes provide evidence that human activities detrimentally affect mainly larger-sized loggerhead turtles living in shallow waters.


2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. LEFKADITOU ◽  
M. CORSINI-FOKA ◽  
G. KONDILATOS

Loliginid squids of the Sepioteuthis lessoniana complex are widely spread in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, where they constitute a commercially important resource for neritic fisheries. Sepioteuthis lessoniana is the only Lessepsian squid migrant till now, recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean in 2002 along the Turkish Levantine coasts. Two maturing males, with mantle lengths 193 mm and 244 mm, have been recently caught near the coasts of Rhodes Island (SE Aegean), extending the species distribution northward, into Hellenic waters. Their identity was confirmed by comparison of the main body, beak characteristics and morphometric measurements with those available in the literature for this species. Suspected expansion of the Lessepsian loliginid into the Aegean Sea, due to the gradual warming of the sea, is discussed.


Crustaceana ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Voultsiadou-Koukoura ◽  
D. Stefanidou

AbstractDuring benthic surveys in the northern Aegean Sea, 188 amphipod species were found; 39 among these comprise new records for the amphipod fauna of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 41 are reported for the first time from the Aegean Sea and 62 are new for the fauna of the northern Aegean Sea. A checklist of the amphipods known from the Aegean Sea up to the present is given (239 species), along with their distribution in certain Mediterranean areas. For the most interesting species found, information on their distribution and their habitat is given. The amphipod fauna of the above areas is estimated, on the basis of the relevant literature. Finally, the affinities among these areas using the coefficient of Czekanowski, along with the number of species common to each pair of areas, are estimated.


Author(s):  
F. Domènech ◽  
F.J. Badillo ◽  
J. Tomás ◽  
J.A. Raga ◽  
F.J. Aznar

This study reports for the first time on the whole epibiont fauna of loggerhead marine turtles,Caretta caretta, in the western Mediterranean, analysing the factors that account for the predictability and composition of the assemblage. A total of 104 loggerhead turtles stranded along the coasts of eastern Spain during 1995–2006 were surveyed for epibionts. A total of 39 epibiont taxa were identified, three of them being new records for loggerhead turtles:Bittiumsp.,Idotea metallicaandJassasp. The assemblage was composed of a group of 27 facultative taxa that use turtles as any inanimate buoyant substrate, and 12 taxa that have developed more specific associations to marine turtles, including six species that occur in marine turtles exclusively, two that dwell also on other hosts, and four that can also survive as free-living forms but have developed a strong association with marine turtles. Hierarchical clustering and Similarity Profile Analysis based on the occurrence of 166 epibiont taxa from nine available surveys indicated that the epibiont assemblages from loggerhead turtles in the western Mediterranean (WM) are similar to those from Central Mediterranean (CM), but significantly different from turtles surveyed in the eastern Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The subset of epibionts occurring on WM and CM turtles is defined by a combination of geographic factors (exclusive Mediterranean epibiont taxa) and ecological factors (relative absence of littoral-benthic taxa). Loggerhead turtles from WM and CM apparently exploit both pelagic and benthic habitats in similar fashion, representing a homogeneous unit for epibiont recruitment.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aydın Kaleli ◽  
Ana Car ◽  
Andrzej Witkowski ◽  
Marta Krzywda ◽  
Catherine Riaux-Gobin ◽  
...  

Background The Aegean Sea coast of Turkey hosts one of the most important nesting grounds for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea. Previous studies have revealed that the sea turtle carapace provides favourable conditions for various epibiontic organisms. Epibionts occurring on the carapace have been examined from different locations in the oceans. Methods This is the first time such a high number (39) of samples collected from nesting turtles during such a long time period (extending from 2011 to 2018) has been used for the study of the diatom component of the microbiome on the turtle carapaces. A total of 33 samples were investigated in terms of light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Six unprocessed biofilm fragments were subject to SEM observations. Results A total of 457 epizoic diatom taxa belonging to 86 genera were identified. Epizoic forms, e.g., Achnanthes spp., Chelonicola spp. or Tripterion spp. (also identified by SEM observations of the undisturbed pieces of the microbiome) dominated in terms of relative abundance, but the highest numbers of taxa were ubiquitously represented by Navicula (79), Nitzschia (45), Amphora (40), Cocconeis (32), Diploneis (25) and Mastogloia (23). Navicula perminuta and Delphineis australis were the most frequent taxa, present in 65% of the samples, both with an average relative abundance of 10%. The results of our study revealed that diatoms are an essential component of the loggerhead sea turtles’ microbiome, in terms of high biodiversity and abundance. Although strict epibionts provide a signature of the turtle microbiome, the carapace as a solid substrate attracts numerous benthic diatom species which are considered opportunistic forms and can be found in the surrounding benthic habitats of the vast ocean littoral space.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 234 (3) ◽  
pp. 227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Anthony Frankovich ◽  
Michael J. Sullivan ◽  
Nicole Indra Stacy

Tursiocola denysii sp. nov. is described from the dorsal neck skin of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), bringing the total number of known species in the genus Tursiocola to eight. A gradient of striae density on the valve face, the low length:width ratio of the valves, radiate striae at mid-valve, and a second partial row of pores on the valvocopulae are characteristics that expand the range of morphological diversity within the genus. The different morphology of the pars interior and the pars exterior of the valvocopula is described for the first time in the genus. T. denysii accounted for up to ca. 40% of all diatom valves on the skin of loggerhead turtles. This is the first report of a new epizoic diatom species from the skin of loggerhead sea turtles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Heyne

AbstractAlthough visual culture of the 21th century increasingly focuses on representation of death and dying, contemporary discourses still lack a language of death adequate to the event shown by pictures and visual images from an outside point of view. Following this observation, this article suggests a re-reading of 20th century author Elias Canetti. His lifelong notes have been edited and published posthumously for the first time in 2014. Thanks to this edition Canetti's short texts and aphorisms can be focused as a textual laboratory in which he tries to model a language of death on experimental practices of natural sciences. The miniature series of experiments address the problem of death, not representable in discourses of cultural studies, system theory or history of knowledge, and in doing so, Canetti creates liminal texts at the margins of western concepts of (human) life, science and established textual form.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. N. Beldiman ◽  
I. N. Urbanavichene ◽  
V. E. Fedosov ◽  
E. Yu. Kuzmina

We studied in detail a moss-lichen component of Shokalsky Island vegetation for the first time and identified 79 species of mosses and 54 species and 2 subspecies of lichens and lichenicolous fungi. All species of mosses and 23 species and 2 subspecies of lichens and lichenicolous fungi are recorded for the first time for the island. The study is based on collections made in South West part of the island, in arctic tundra. We also explored the participation of the mosses and lichens in the main types of plant communities and the species distribution in 10 ecotopes. The paper describes the noteworthy findings (Abrothallus parmeliarum, Aongstroemia longipes, Arthonia peltigerea, Caloplaca caesiorufella, Catillaria stereocaulorum, Ceratodon heterophyllus, Lecanora leptacinella, Sphagnum concinnum, S. olafii) and features of bryo- and lichenoflora of Shokalsky Island.


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