Biodiversity of the upper-mesophotic octocoral habitats at Sporades Archipelago (Aegean Sea)

The dataset describes the megabenthic biodiversity that has been recorded in five locations at the upper mesophotic zone of the National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades. The expedition ran in the summer of 2021 with a focus on the study of the structure of the octocoral habitats with emphasis on the forests of Eunicella cavolini and Paramuricea clavata. Non-invasive methods have been applied to collect the relevant information. This includes 4K GoPro cameras with lights and scaled laser beams along with an underwater camera system with strobes. The provided dataset is preliminary and far from being considered complete; however, it sets the foundation for new information to be added in future expeditions.

Default

IdentificationAbout this resource

Alternate Identifier

10.15468/k72gqm

Alternate Identifier
http://ipt.medobis.eu/resource?r=uppermesophotic
Publication Date
2023-09-05
Title

Biodiversity of the upper-mesophotic octocoral habitats at Sporades Archipelago (Aegean Sea)

Abstract

The dataset describes the megabenthic biodiversity that has been recorded in five locations at the upper mesophotic zone of the National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades. The expedition ran in the summer of 2021 with a focus on the study of the structure of the octocoral habitats with emphasis on the forests of Eunicella cavolini and Paramuricea clavata. Non-invasive methods have been applied to collect the relevant information. This includes 4K GoPro cameras with lights and scaled laser beams along with an underwater camera system with strobes. The provided dataset is preliminary and far from being considered complete; however, it sets the foundation for new information to be added in future expeditions.

Dataset Language

ENGLISH

 
Dataset Creator
Metadata Provider
Associated Party
Associated Party
Associated Party
Dataset Contact
Keywords (GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml)

  • Metadata

Keywords (none)

  • Biodiversity

Keywords (none)

  • gorgonians

Keywords (none)

  • upper-mesophotic

Keywords (none)

  • octocoral

Keywords (https://www.marineregions.org/gazetteer.php?p=detailsid=3684)

  • Northern Sporades

  • Aegean Sea

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Description

National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades (Aegean Sea, Greece)

Bounding Box

West Bounding Coordinate

22.906

East Bounding Coordinate

24.532

North Bounding Coordinate

39.593

South Bounding Coordinate

39.011

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Begin Date

2021-06-20

End Date

2021-06-26

Taxonomic Coverage

General Taxonomic Coverage

Algae, Ascidiacea, Bryozoa, Cnidaria, Crustacea,

Echinodermata, Mollusca, Pisces, Polychaeta, Porifera

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Class

Taxonomic Rank Value

Ascidiacea

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Bryozoa

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Cnidaria

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Subphylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Crustacea

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Echinodermata

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Mollusca

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Superclass

Taxonomic Rank Value

Pisces

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Class

Taxonomic Rank Value

Polychaeta

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Phylum

Taxonomic Rank Value

Porifera

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Value

Algae

resourceLicensesLicense Information

Intellectual Rights

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

.

Resource License

License Name

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

URL
https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html
Identifier

CC-BY-4.0

 

Distribution

Online

URL
http://ipt.medobis.eu/archive.do?r=uppermesophotic
 

Additional Metadata

Metadata

GBIF Metadata Block

Date Stamp

2026-04-14T08:24:20Z

Citation

Poursanidis D (2023). Biodiversity of the upper-mesophotic octocoral habitats at Sporades Archipelago (Aegean Sea). Hellenic Center for Marine Research. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/k72gqm accessed via GBIF.org on 2026-04-14.

Bibliography

Giovanni Chimienti, Michela Maiorca, Markos Digenis, Dimitris Poursanidis,

Conservation status of upper-mesophotic octocoral habitats at Sporades Archipelago (Aegean Sea), Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 190, 2023, 114868, ISSN 0025-326X,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114868.

 

Project

• Project

Title

“The Coral gardens of Alonnisos Northern Sporades Marine Park”

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name

Dimitris

Surname

Poursanidis

User ID
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitrispoursanidis/?originalSubdomain=gr
Role

POINT_OF_CONTACT

Abstract

This work is part of the project “The Coral gardens of Alonnisos Northern Sporades Marine Park”, funded by the Thalassa Foundation. Without them, this work could not be possible. Special thanks to the Eforate of Undewater Antiquites for the special permission for Science Dive operations, to Panos Anagnostou and the Alonissos-Seacolours Dive center for the technical support and the Management Body of the Alonnisos Northern Sporades Marine Park for their support

Funding

Funded by the Thalassa Foundation.

Study Area Description

Descriptor

Alonnisos Northern Sporades Marine Park

 
 

Methods

• Method

Method Step

Description

Based on local knowledge and interviews with diving centers, five sites have been selected for the assessment of upper mesophotic coral forests. Three of them are located in the straits of Skopelos–Alonnisos, at Agios Georgios islet and Mikro islet, and at the tip of Fanari in Alonnisos.

Two more sites are located 1.5 nautical miles northeast of Dyo Adelfia islet, at the so-called Barketa reef, and off the twin islets Moro and Moules.

Sampling

Study Extent

Octocoral forests created by the yellow sea fan Eunicella cavolini and the red sea fan Paramuricea clavata were studied at the National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades (Aegean Sea, Greece), between 30 and 45 m depth, in order to assess their conservation status and the occurrence of both natural and anthropogenic stressors.

Sampling Description

Equipment used are GoPro cameras, Canon Cameras, Visual Census.

During June 2021, technical scuba diving operations were carried out at every site to verify the occurrence of coral forests and perform noninvasive monitoring from 30 to 45 m depth, with qualitative explorations up to 60 m depth. Underwater videos were carried out using 4K cameras equipped with two video lights of 12,000 lm each and two parallel laser beams for scaling. Image analysis and processing for the coral forests were performed using ImageJ/Fiji software, and sampling units of 2.5 ± 0.2 m2 were defined along each transect, according to the minimal area used for the quantification of Mediterranean octocoral habitats.

qualityControl

Description

Taxonomic Data mapped to WoRMS.