Demographic parameters of two populations of red coral (Corallium rubrum L. 1758) in the North Western Mediterranean

Abstract

Portofino and Cap de Creus, respectively. Minimum harvestable size (7 mm basal diameter) was reached in 30-35 years, and the percentage of colonies above it was 6.7 % at Portofino and 2.1 % at Cap de Creus, where juvenile and adult colony densities were significantly lower and the percentage of commercial-sized colonies reduced by 25 % in just a few years. notwithstanding similar growth and fecundity, the two populations showed different densities and size/age structures suggesting local factors, together with different fishing pressures, have to be taken into account in the management plans for this species. Introduction Population dynamics depend largely on demographic histories (Dobson 1998; ebert 1999, particularly for slowgrowing, long-lived species, which have been subjected to dramatic reductions in survival, reproduction and/ or recruitment rates (e.g., Fujiwara and Caswell 2001;

An overexploited Italian treasure: past and present distribution and exploitation of the precious red coral Corallium rubrum (L., 1758) (Cnidaria: Anthozoa)

“…A representative example is that of the historical red coral banks of the Gulf of Naples, largely unrecovered nowadays (Bavestrello et al 2014a). The Mediterranean red coral shows a slow resilience due to the limited larval diffusion potential (Costantini et al 2007;Ledoux et al 2010), high post-settlement mortality (Cerrano et al 2001), low growth rates and reproductive output that increases with size (Garrabou & Harmelin 2002;Santangelo et al 2004Santangelo et al , 2012Bramanti et al 2007Bramanti et al , 2014Gallmetzer et al 2010;Linares et al 2010;Priori et al 2013). Moreover, the overexploitation has certainly favoured a higher genetic separation within and among coral populations, leading to a decreased genetic diversity (Costantini et al 2007).…”

“…Today, the Portofino population is well known (Marchetti 1965;Cattaneo-Vietti & Bavestrello 2010;Bramanti et al 2014;Bavestrello et al 2014a) and protected inside the Portofino MPA. After 20 years of protection, it shows a slow recovery (Bramanti et al 2014;Bavestrello et al 2014b).…”

“…The shallow-water populations (between 15 and 50 m depth), living in caves, crevices and overhangs, were overexploited only by scuba divers who, since the 1950s, were able to pick up colonies in habitats inaccessible to dredging (FAO 1988;Cicogna & CattaneoVietti 1993;Cicogna et al 1999;Garrabou & Harmelin 2002;Santangelo et al 2007;Vielmini 2009;Vielmini et al 2009;Tsounis et al 2010;Bramanti et al 2014).…”

“…Available data from 1978 to present, as reported by several authors Liverino 1998;Santangelo & Abbiati 2001;Bruckner 2009;Cau et al 2013;Tsounis et al 2013), have been extracted from Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that were, in turn, provided by the red coral wholesalers and manufacturers . Information regarding the bank distribution along the Italian coasts was obtained from Gaetani (1867), Panceri (1871), Targioni-Tozzetti (1880), Colombo (1887), Parona (1898), Lo Bianco (1909, Mazzarelli (1915aMazzarelli ( ,b, 1931, Mazzarelli and Mazzarelli (1918), Peruzy (1923), Scatizzi (1935), Errico and Montanelli (2008), Cattaneo-Vietti and Bavestrello (2010), Gangemi (2011Gangemi ( , 2014, Santangelo et al (2007Santangelo et al ( , 2012, Priori et al (2013), Bramanti et al (2014) and Bavestrello et al (2014b).…”

Taxonomic revision of Coralliidae with descriptions of new species from New Caledonia and the Hawaiian Archipelago

“…However, due to their slow growth rates and low fecundity, they are sensitive to fishing pressure (Linares et al 2012;Nonaka et al 2015). In recent years, more and more evidence has revealed the shift of the population structure of coralliids in major fishing grounds (Bramanti et al 2014). In order to accurately identify the harvested species, several studies have reviewed the taxonomy of corallid corals by molecular information coupled with morphological characters.…”