Abstract
This study reports the first attempt to quantitatively describe a Dendrophyllia ramea population on the Apollo bank (Ionian Sea), revealed in summer 2021 through a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) survey. The habitat description, bathymetric distribution, population density, and structure of the species were assessed by image analysis. A well-developed population of D. ramea, located on boulders on a sedimentary plateau at 70–80 m depth, was observed. The density ranged on average between 0.17 ± 0.04 and 0.8 ± 2.4 colonies m–2 with dense patches up to 8 colonies m–2. The population consisted primarily of many isolated single corallites and colonies of various sizes, some of which reached a maximum height of more than 40 cm. Deepwater fishing activities, primarily longline fishing, negatively affected this species. The newly collected data add knowledge about this vulnerable scleractinian coral. The documented negative effect of fishing activities on vulnerable marine ecosystem (VME) species further highlights the need for urgent conservation measures.
Highlights
The orange tree coral Dendrophyllia ramea (Linnaeus, 1758) is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species belonging to the family Dendrophyllidae Gray, 1847
The study area is in the southeastern part of the Sicilian continental margin (Ionian Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea) and encompasses the so-called Apollo bank
No precise information is available in the literature about the Apollo bank, but the information collected by fishermen and recreational/technical divers reported the presence of D. ramea colonies, locally called “Apollo corals,” along the entire continental margin at the bathymetric range between 70 and 90 m depth
Summary
The orange tree coral Dendrophyllia ramea (Linnaeus, 1758) is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species belonging to the family Dendrophyllidae Gray, 1847 It is an arborescent scleractinian with white tentacles and pale orange polyps and can form large, branched colonies exceeding 100 cm in height (Salomidi et al, 2010; Bo and Fisheries and Aquaculture Resources Use and Conservation Division, 2017). It is distributed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, recorded in Azores (Braga-Henriques et al, 2013), Canary Islands (Arístegui et al, 1987; Bianchi et al, 2000; Reyes et al, 2000; Brito and Ocaña, 2004; Aguilar et al, 2010a), in the Gulf of Cadiz (Aguilar et al, 2010b), and further south along the African coast [Morocco, Cape Verde, Gulf of Guinea, Ghana, and Nigeria (Zibrowius, 1980)]. D. ramea generally developed in the circalittoral zone on rocky substratum or bioconstruction characterized by moderate currents and turbidity, usually between 40 and 80 m depth, up to the
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