Offshore Neopycnodonte Oyster Reefs in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Oysters are important ecosystem engineers best known to produce large bioconstructions at shallow depth, whilst offshore deep-subtidal oyster reefs are less widely known. Oyster reefs engineered by Neopycnodonte cochlear (family Gryphaeidae) occur at various sites in the Mediterranean Sea, between 40 and 130 m water depths. Remotely Operated Vehicle surveys provide new insights on this rather neglected reef types with respect to their shape, dimensions and associated biodiversity. We suggest that these little contemplated reefs should be taken in due consideration for protection.

Mesophotic azooxanthellate coral communities and submarine seascape during the early Pliocene in Manilva Basin (S Spain)

“…)Coral Reefs 2019). The bathymetric range of recent aggregations of Neopycnodonte cochlear in the Mediterranean(Angeletti and Taviani 2020) is consistent with the deep-water conditions inferred above.…”

“…9). The recent species N. zibrowii and N. cochlear are typical inhabitants of hard substrates forming dense concentrations from mesophotic to bathyal depths (Le Loc'h et al 2008;Wisshak et al 2009;Van Rooij et al 2007Wheeler and Stadnitskaia 2011;Johnson et al 2013;Beuck et al 2016;Angeletti and Taviani 2020). N. cochlear is also an important component in circalittoral mesophotic coral reefs, forming dense clusters (Arístegui et al 1987;Freiwald et al 2009;Taviani et al 2005Taviani et al , 2011Taviani et al , 2017Taviani et al , 2019Lastras et al 2019; Rueda et al In this palaeoenvironmental scenario, water energy was attenuated, accounting for the deposition of marls and silty marls throughout the Canuto section.…”

Benthic Habitat Map of the Southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) from Object-Based Image Analysis of Multi-Source Acoustic Backscatter Data

“…It is characterized by a sub-planar shelf bounded offshore by a shelf break located at a distance ranging from 20 to 36 km off the Italian coastline at a mean depth of 200 m. Two main incisions indent the slope and the shelf break of this part of the Adriatic margin and are Bari and Tricase canyons [10,13]. The shelf here presents scattered hard substrates related to bedrock outcrops, erosive remnants, and coralligenous formations and oyster reefs [33][34][35][36]. The eastern continental Adriatic Margin is characterized by a narrow (ca.…”

“…When surveys were poorly sampled or not sampled at all, we exploited the literature data in order to infer the benthic habitats characterizing them. In particular, we exploited the works [36,[50][51][52][53] to gather information on coralligenous formations and oyster reefs, [12,[16][17][18][54][55][56][57] to collect details on Bari Canyon cold water corals (CWCs) and [16,58] to assemble data on CWC communities of Gondola slide and offshore Monopoli, respectively. Finally, when either ground-truthing or literature data were not available or classes hosted multiple samples of different lithologies, we inferred the benthic habitats occurring there through expert interpretation [27].…”

“…Most of the western continental shelf is covered by fine sediments, primarily muddy sand and sandy mud. The Apulian shelf hosts at depths shallower than 100 m, bioconstructions (i.e., coralligenous formations) and oyster reefs dominated by the gryphaeid Neopycnodonte cochlear, e.g., [36,[50][51][52][53].…”