Biological Conservation of Giant Limpets

‘Impossible’ re-introduction of the endangered limpet Patella ferruginea Gmelin, 1791? Progress in resolving translocation mortality

“…Limpets are considered key species in coastal ecosystems, as they create and maintain bare rock patches in the rocky intertidal and limit the coverage of barnacles and macroalgae, enabling many species to coexist and contributing to marine biodiversity on rocky shores (Branch 1981, Espinosa & Rivera-Ingraham 2017. The limpet Patella ferruginea Gmelin, 1791 (Gastropoda, Patellidae) is the most endangered marine invertebrate along the western Mediterranean rocky shoreline (Laborel-Deguen & La bo rel 1991a, Ramos 1998, Rivera-Ingraham 2010, Rivera-Ingraham et al 2015, and as such is listed in Annex IV of the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC;EC 2004).…”

“…As with other species of giant limpets (>10 cm maximum shell diameter), P. ferruginea individuals may have a lifespan of over 30 yr and are very slow growing, reaching sexual maturation at 2 to 3 yr (Espinosa 2005, Espinosa & Rivera-Ingraham 2017. As with many invertebrate species, intra-and inter-specific variation in limpet size is correlated with gradients of primary productivity and nutrient availability, which are expected to determine individual size and population densities and dynamics (Bosman et al 1987, Fa 2008, Espinosa & Rivera-Ingraham 2017. Fa (2008) also pointed to restricted tides in the Mediterranean (reduced width of the mid-littoral zone) as an important factor in determining population density (ind.…”

“…km −1 of coastline) of such relatively large littoral species, reducing maximum sustainable yields which would be further depressed by size-based collection (negatively affecting existing sex ratios). Consequently, the larger maximum sizes and population densities of P. ferruginea near the Straits of Gibraltar may have contributed to increased larvae production and recruitment and thus increased resilience to anthropic pressures compared with the rest of the Mediterranean Sea (Bosman et al 1987, Le Quesne 2005, Fa 2008, Espinosa & Rivera-Ingraham 2017. P. ferruginea is usually considered a protandric species, being initially male (from around 25 mm length) and latterly female (from around 60 mm length; Espinosa 2005; but it can also exhibit a reverse sex change, whereby females can turn again to males (Guallart et al 2013).…”

Predicting the fate of the most endangered marine invertebrate of the Mediterranean: The power of long‐term monitoring in conservation biology

“…To do this, the following data collected in Ceuta or neighbouring areas was used: mean monthly values of wave height (obtained from the National Harbours Authority in Spain, http://www.puertos.es/es-es/oceanografia/Paginas/portus.aspx); chlorophyll concentration and seawater temperature (obtained from the NASA website, https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataaccess); and rainfall (obtained from the Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, AEMET, website for Ceuta, https://opendata.aemet.es/centrodedescargas/productosAEMET, and also from the MetOffice, UK, for Gibraltar, to fill in the 4‐month gap in the rainfall record of Ceuta). Taking into account that reproductive events (spawning, larval stage, and settlement) occur during late autumn and early winter (Espinosa & Rivera‐Ingraham, ), only environmental data corresponding to the months of November, December, and January were considered. The percentage of recruitment (i.e.…”

“…The conspicuous star-shaped shell and large sizes that P. ferruginea can reach (>10 cm in diameter; see Espinosa & Rivera-Ingraham, 2017) has made this species the target of human collection since the Quaternary (Espinosa, Rivera-Ingraham, Fa, & García-Gómez, 2009), being commonly used as food, bait for fishing, or for decorative purposes. In addition, the urban development of coastal areas has dramatically fragmented its habitat, leading to the alteration of local communities (Airoldi et al, 2005;Dong, Huang, Wang, Li, & Wang, 2016;Firth et al, 2016).…”