Updating the national checklist of marine fishes in Spanish waters: An approach to priority hotspots and lessons for conservation

Abstract

In response to a request from the Spanish Ministry of Farming, Fishing, Food, and Environment (Spanish: Agricultura, Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente) in 2015, a fish expert group was formed to provide a reference list of marine fish species according to five regions (marine demarcations) established by Spanish Law 41/2010 on the protection of the marine environment. The objective of this article was to update and analyse the data compiled in the marine fish species checklist in order to: 1) provide a complete list of marine fish species in the Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone; 2) compare this checklist between bio-geographical areas; and 3) identify possible priority hotspots for their conservation. We applied several indices, such as the total number of species in each area, species richness, and the Biodiversity Conservation Concern index. We discuss gaps in knowledge and the lessons learned for conservation purposes. A total of 1075 marine fishes were reported in Spanish waters. Most of these fish were well determined, whereas a few were treated as uncertain. The marine demarcation with the most species is the Canary Islands with 795 species, followed by the Spanish north coast demarcation with 506 species. However, the marine demarcations with the most species per area are the Spanish coast of the Gulf of Cádiz and the Strait of Gibraltar-Alboran Sea.

Differences in the occurrence and abundance of batoids across an oceanic archipelago using complementary data sources: Implications for conservation

“…Hence, our results are not confounded by varying levels of fishing effort among groups of islands. It should be noted that, in this study, less than half of the batoids species known to occur in the Canary Islands (Báez et al, 2019; Brito et al, 2002; Appendix ) were recorded, even though our data covered a broad spectrum of sites, depths, and habitats. Estimating abundance patterns are crucial for any effective conservation initiative for batoids, including the establishment of protected areas for conservation at different geographic (e.g., insular) scales.…”

“…Despite the western islands being less populated than the central and eastern islands, SCUBA diving is of great popularity at the westernmost island (El Hierro), with nine diving centers and >20,000 divers per year, which, to a certain extent, rules out the potential low observation effort at the western islands (Meyers et al, 2017). In terms of the temporal frame of the data we here analyzed, it is worth mentioning that no publication from the study region has demonstrated a range shift for any batoid species (Báez et al, 2019). Despite a temporal comparison would be ideal to assess temporality in the presence of batoids in the Canary Islands, most UVC data (ca.…”

“…The Canary Islands have long been considered a hotspot for batoids and certain nearshore shark species. A recent species checklist identified 24 batoid species in this region (Báez et al, 2019; Appendix ). For example, the archipelago is considered a unique stronghold of the iconic angelshark, Squatina squatina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Barker et al, 2016; Lawson et al, 2019; Meyers et al, 2017).…”

“New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea” (October 2021)

“…By the end of 2020 there were 2.7 billion Facebook and 262 million Twitter users around the world (Garcia-Soto et al, 2021) and this increasing connection of people through social networks and web platforms such as Seawatchers.net is offering unprecedented opportunities to investigate marine biodiversity, especially in its most overlooked aspects. The distribution of Parapristipoma octolineatum (Valenciennes, 1833) (Haemulidae) comprehends the Eastern Atlantic, from Angola to the south of Spain and Portugal, including Cape Verde, Madeira, Canary Islands, and the Western Mediterranean; recently, in the Atlantic, it has been reported up to the Bay of Biscay and the Galician waters (Casamajor, 2016;Báez et al, 2019). For the Mediterranean basin, Bauchot (1987) reports the occurrence of the species along the coasts of Morocco and Algeria, in the Gibraltar Strait and the south and east coasts of Spain, while it is not listed among the Mediterranean ichthyofauna of eastern Spain in Báez et al (2019).…”

“…The distribution of Parapristipoma octolineatum (Valenciennes, 1833) (Haemulidae) comprehends the Eastern Atlantic, from Angola to the south of Spain and Portugal, including Cape Verde, Madeira, Canary Islands, and the Western Mediterranean; recently, in the Atlantic, it has been reported up to the Bay of Biscay and the Galician waters (Casamajor, 2016;Báez et al, 2019). For the Mediterranean basin, Bauchot (1987) reports the occurrence of the species along the coasts of Morocco and Algeria, in the Gibraltar Strait and the south and east coasts of Spain, while it is not listed among the Mediterranean ichthyofauna of eastern Spain in Báez et al (2019). In Algeria, the species is considered extremely rare (Dieuzeide et al, 1955;Djabali et al, 1993).…”