Bussotti Simona, Di Franco Antonio, Francour Patrice, Guidetti Paolo
Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, EA 4228 ECOMERS, Nice, France; CoNISMa (National Interuniversity Consortium of Marine Sciences), Rome, Italy.
Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Faculté des Sciences, EA 4228 ECOMERS, Nice, France.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 13;10(4):e0122632. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122632. eCollection 2015.
Fish assemblages associated with 14 marine caves and adjacent external rocky reefs were investigated at four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the coasts of Italy. Within the caves sampling was carried out in different sub-habitats: walls, ceilings, bottoms and ends of caves. On the whole, 38 species were recorded inside the 14 caves investigated. Eighteen species were exclusively found inside the caves: they were mainly represented by speleophilic (i.e. species preferentially or exclusively inhabiting caves) gobids (e.g. Didogobius splechtnai) and nocturnal species (e.g. Conger conger). Forty-one species were censused outside, 20 of which were shared with cave habitats. Apogon imberbis was the most common fish found in all 14 caves investigated, followed by Thorogobius ephippiatus (recorded in 13 caves), and Diplodus vulgaris and Scorpaena notata (both censused in 12 caves). Distinct fish assemblages were found between external rocky reefs and the different cave sub-habitats. New data on the distribution of some speleophilic gobids were collected, showing the existence of a pool of species shared by marine caves on a large scale (i.e. hundreds of km). Considering the uniqueness of cave fishes (18 exclusive species and different assemblage structures), the inclusion of marine caves among the habitats routinely investigated for fish biodiversity monitoring could facilitate the achievement of more comprehensive inventories. Due to their contribution to local species diversity and the shelter they provide to species valuable for conservation, marine caves should be prioritized for their inclusion not only within future MPAs through the Mediterranean Sea, but also into larger management spatial planning.
在意大利沿海的四个海洋保护区（MPA），对与14个海洋洞穴及相邻的外部岩礁相关的鱼类群落进行了调查。在洞穴内，在不同的亚栖息地进行采样：洞壁、洞顶、洞底和洞端。总体而言，在所调查的14个洞穴内记录到38种鱼类。有18种鱼类仅在洞穴内被发现：它们主要以嗜洞穴性（即优先或仅栖息于洞穴的物种）虾虎鱼（如斯氏双盘虾虎鱼）和夜行性物种（如康吉鳗）为代表。在外部记录到41种鱼类，其中20种与洞穴栖息地共有。条纹天竺鲷是在所有14个被调查洞穴中最常见的鱼类，其次是鞍带间项鳍虾虎鱼（记录于13个洞穴），以及黑背鼻鱼和细纹鳐鲼（均在12个洞穴中被统计到）。在外部岩礁和不同的洞穴亚栖息地之间发现了不同的鱼类群落。收集了一些嗜洞穴性虾虎鱼分布的新数据，表明存在一个在大范围（即数百公里）上海洋洞穴共有的物种库。考虑到洞穴鱼类的独特性（18种特有物种和不同的群落结构），将海洋洞穴纳入鱼类生物多样性监测常规调查的栖息地中，有助于实现更全面的物种清单。由于它们对当地物种多样性的贡献以及为具有保护价值的物种提供庇护所，海洋洞穴不仅应优先纳入未来地中海地区的海洋保护区，还应纳入更大范围的管理空间规划中。
