Cold-water coral ecosystems along the Apulian coasts: Biodiversity and urgency of conservation measures in the Anthropocene

Information on the biodiversity of benthopelagic fauna of deep-sea Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VMEs) network along the Apulian margin (central Mediterranean Sea) is reported in this paper. Data were collected using two low impact sampling tools between 2010 and 2019 in 3 VMEs characterised by cold-water corals (CWC): Bari Canyon (BC), off Monopoli (Mn) and off Santa Maria di Leuca (SML). Using longline, a total of 53 deployments were carried out between 314 and 650 m depth for a total time of about 217 fishing hours, whereas using the baited lander MEMO (Marine Environment MOnitoring system) a total of 31 deployments were carried out between 427 and 792 m, for a total of 223 h of video record. A total of 60 taxa were recorded: 9 cephalopods (only one species was collected with longline), 14 crustaceans (2 species were collected with longline), 13 Chondrichthyes (11 collected with longline and seven species observed with baited lander) and 24 Osteichthyes (15 sampled with longline and 16 recorded by baited lander). The similarities in species observed between the VMEs characterize the network of VMEs along Apulian margin, whereas the detected differences are due to the different abundance of some species, such as Galeus melastomus Helicolenus dactylopterus and Phycis blennoides. In all three VMEs were found commercial and vulnerable/endangered species as well as large and sexually mature individuals of cartilaginous and teleost fishes. This presence confirms that the network of VMEs along Apulian margin can act as a network of refuge areas for species threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as fishing activities carried out on the muddy seabeds surrounding VMEs.