A large non-parasitic population of Savalia savaglia (Bertoloni, 1819) in the Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro).

The golden coral Savalia savaglia is a long-living ecosystem engineer of Mediterranean circalittoral assemblages, able to induce necrosis of gorgonians' and black corals' coenenchyme and grow on their cleaned organic skeleton. Despite its rarity, in Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro) a shallow population of more than 1000 colonies was recorded close to underwater freshwater springs, which create very peculiar environmental conditions. In this context, the species was extremely abundant at two sites, while gorgonians were rare. The abundance and size of S. savaglia colonies and the diversity of the entire benthic assemblage were investigated by photographic sampling in a depth range of 0-35 m. Several living fragments of S. savaglia spread on the sea floor and small settled colonies (< 5 cm high) suggested a high incidence of asexual reproduction and a non-parasitic behaviour of this population. This was confirmed by studying thin sections of the basal portion of the trunk where the central core, generally represented by the remains of the gorgonian host skeleton, was lacking. The S. savaglia population of Boka Kotorska Bay forms the unique Mediterranean assemblage of the species deserving the definition of animal forest. Recently, temporary mitigation measures for anthropogenic impact were issued by the Government of Montenegro. Nevertheless, due to the importance of the sites the establishment of a permanent Marine Protected Area is strongly recommended.

ReefMedMol: Mollusca from the infralittoral rocky shores - the biocoenosis of photophilic algae - in the Mediterranean Sea.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes two datasets on the molluscan fauna from the Mediterranean infralittoral reef ecosystem - the biocoenosis of photophilic algae. The first dataset is taken from the East Mediterranean node of the NAGISA project. The second one is a compilation based on the available published material in peer - reviewed journals as well as from the accessible grey literature. These datasets cover a time period of 43 years from 1969 to 2012 from several locations spanning the Mediterranean Sea. NEW INFORMATION: This dataset is the only one available from this important Mediterranean Habitat, coded as 1170 in the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and can provide valuable information on the needs of ecosystems functions and services assessment, habitat and species conservation as well as marine spatial planning.