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MEDITERRANEAN DEEP-SEA
BIOLOGY
Edited by
Francisco Sardà, Gianfranco D’Onghia, Chrissi-Yianna Politou
and Anastasios Tselepides
Coordinated by
Francisco Sardà
Scientia Marina, 68 (Suppl. 3)
Institut de Ciències del Mar, CMIMA-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain
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With the support of:
Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Dirección General de Investigación, España
Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Italia
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece
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Foreword
The Mediterranean Sea is often thought of as the cradle of civilization. What is less well
known is that it was Edward Forbes’ study of the deeper benthos in the Aegean Sea that led
directly to the early efforts of deep-sea biology on a global scale. Forbes was perhaps a little
unfortunate in the site he chose to study the deeper zonation of the benthos. Below ~600 m depth
he could find no fauna and thus suggested that no life existed in the sea below 600 m. Thus was
born the ‘Azoic Theory’. This theory did not last long. Although the stimulation to look for deepsea fauna originated in the Mediterranean it was in the NE Atlantic using the naval vessels Lightning and Porcupine that animals were hauled from the deepest depths. From 1872 to 1876 HMS
Challenger toured the water of the globe showing that there was a rich and varied deep-sea
fauna. This stimulated the ‘heroic’ age of deep-sea biology where all the major oceans were sampled and culminated in the Galathea expedition shortly after WWII that finally demonstrated
that a fauna could be found at all depths in the world’s oceans.
The Mediterranean enjoyed this heroic age, best exemplified by the cruises of the Princess
Alice I and II under the auspices of the Prince of Monaco. Recently there has been a new resurgence of interest in the deep Mediterranean. As a young ocean there has been much speculation
as to the origin of its fauna and whether the deeper waters of the Mediterranean have a true
endemic fauna. Diving to 500 m off Toulon in 1985 the seabed of the Mediterranean presented
a barren aspect. But we should not be deceived. It was already recognised that in the deep-sea
ocean it was the small organisms that contributed to biodiversity. This resurgence was triggered
by two interrelated events. Firstly, marine labs round the Mediterranean employed dynamic
young staff that wanted to look beyond the horizon and down into the deep. Secondly, the
increasing cost of working offshore was ameliorated by integrated research programmes established through the scientific programmes of the EU.
This volume presents the first synthesis of the studies of these dynamic laboratories that border the Mediterranean. There are three main themes exemplifying the current state of knowledge
of the deep Mediterranean. Studies of meiobenthos have shown that the biodiversity and biomass
is very variable and appears to decrease to the east. The crustacean fauna has been particularly
well studied and presents a wealth of new data and paradigms from the last 15 years. Lastly, the
fish fauna is shown to be both diverse and extensive. With increasing interest in the biodiversity of the ocean as exemplified by the Census of Marine Life (CoML) this volume is a timely
reminder of the contribution the Mediterranean has to make.
I hope this volume will act as a catalyst for the continued study of the deep fauna of Mediterranean Sea and will also offer a beacon for those interested in the many deep peripheral seas
round the globe that still deserve scientific attention.
Paul Tyler
Professor of Deep-Sea Biology
Southampton Oceanography Centre
University of Southampton, UK
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D. Amblàs and J.L. Casamor (GRCGM-UB). Overall bathymetry of the Mediterranean Sea and topography
of the surrounding regions, produced from the GEBCO Digital Atlas (IOC/IHO/BODC, 2003) with a resolution grid of one minute (latitude by longitude). The Mediterranean Sea is subdivided in several basins.
The hypsographic curves illustrate the distribution of depths with respect to basin area. The physiographic
distribution of each basin results from the interplay between tectonic, sedimentologic and oceanographic
processes.
International Ocean Commission, International Hydrographic Organization and British Oceanographic Data
Centre -IOC/IHO/BODC- (2003): Centenary Edition of the GEBCO Digital Atlas, published on CD-ROM.
Liverpool (UK).
Marabini, F. (1986): Morphometry of the Mediterranean Sea. XXX Congrès C.I.E.S.M. Palma de Majorque
(ESPAGNE), pp. 77.