“…Coralligenous rims characterize coastal rocky bottoms, whereas platform banks develop mainly offshore, on continental shelves over consolidated sediments, coalescing rhodoliths, or pre‐existing rocky outcrops (Cánovas‐Molina et al, 2016b). Coralligenous reefs are an iconic underwater seascape (Tribot et al, 2016; Chimienti et al, 2017) and provide multivarious ecosystem services to humans (Thierry de Ville d'Avray et al, 2019), but they are also vulnerable to both global and local disturbance (Piazzi, Gennaro & Balata, 2012; Gatti et al, 2015b; Gómez‐Gras et al, 2019), such as pollution, sediment accumulation, fisheries, and stressors related to climate change (Balata et al, 2005; Piazzi & Balata, 2011; Verdura et al, 2019; Betti et al, 2020; Ponti et al, 2021). Coralligenous reefs were included as ‘near threatened’ in the European Red List of Habitats (Gubbay et al, 2016) and, as natural reefs (code 1170 of the European Habitats Directive, NATURA 2000–92/43/EEC; European Commission – DG Environment, 2013), these habitats should be monitored according to the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC).…”