BAVESTRELLO G.

Until now, only 177 species of sponges (Porifera) have been reported for Chilean coastal waters. Here we describe recent scuba diving surveys undertaken to improve our knowledge of the diversity of the sponge fauna of the Seno Magdalena, Puyuhuapi Fjord and Jacaf Canal in Chilean Patagonia. Despite these relatively harsh environments, our study...

Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) investigations of the Mediterranean deep continental shelf and bathyal zone have provided, in the last decade, a large amount of data concerning an enigmatic group of anthozoans: the black corals. Taxonomic investigations as well as ecological and biological studies contributed to unveil the diversity, population...

Le biocostruzioni coralligene, dovute all'accumulo di alghe calcaree in ambienti scarsamente illuminati, sono tra le comunità bentoniche tipiche del Mediterraneo. Tali strutture hanno cominciato a svilupparsi circa 8000 anni fa, quando il livello del mare era 13-16 m inferiore rispetto ad oggi. Circa 2000 anni fa, il loro sviluppo sembra...

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In the Mediterranean Sea, the two sponges of the genus Aplysina (A. aerophoba and A. cavernicola) are identified on the basis of their external morphology and the environment in which they live. During a research program on the sponge fauna in semi-submerged caves of the Italian coasts, we have sampled an abundant very small yellow sponge,...

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The skeleton of most Porifera species consists of siliceous spicules that, after the sponge death, persist for a long time in the sediment. The reduced suspension occurring within the meadows of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica makes these habitats a stable deposit for sponge spicules. Spicules trapped into the network of rhizomes progressively...

TheHaLongBay(Vietnam)isashallowarealocatedinthenorthernpart of the Tonkin Gulf, in the South China Sea. It includes more than 3000 islands of variable sizes. A continuous action of karstic processes, initiating around 280 million of years ago, shaped the formation of extraordinary caves and shallow salt-water lakes. These impressive structures...

Several bathyal cold-water coral provinces, characterized by a lush growth of habitat-forming scleractinians, have been recognized in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the search for this biogenic habitat only marginally targeted the Italian coast of the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean basin) despite historical and a few recent local studies in...

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The predatory activity of the asteroid Peltaster placenta (Müller and Troschel, 1842) on the black coral Parantipathes larix (Esper, 1790) is here described for the first time based on video footage obtained during a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) survey conducted in the Pontine Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Mediterranean...

Climate change and heavy anthropic pressures are giving rise to important modifications in the rocky benthic communities of the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, sponge assemblages have been deeply affected due to the susceptibility of some species to dramatic phenomena such as mass mortalities or widespread variations in the abundance of other...

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The demosponge siliceous spicules, entrapped in the Mediterranean coralligenous bioherms, are a good tool for reconstructing the sponge ancient communities across time, also allowing a comparison with the current biodiversity. The aim of this paper has been the description of the ancient sponge assemblages of the coralligenous bioherms grown up...

Since prehistoric times, the precious red coral Corallium rubrum (L., 1758) has been an essential Mediterranean resource (Fig. 1.3). As a precious stone in jewellery, red coral has been found among artefacts unearthed from prehistoric graves in various Mediterranean and European locations (Tescione 1965; Marini and Ferru 1989; Bussoletti et al....

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Natural secondary metabolites of sponges of the genus Haliclona are associated with an array of biological activity with therapeutic usage. We investigated the immunopharmacological properties of a presumably novel marine sponge species from Sri Lanka, Haliclona (Soestella) sp. Sponge material was collected from southern Sri Lanka by scuba...

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