MEDLEM database, a data collection on large Elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean and Black seas

• DOI: 10.12681/mms.21148
• Publication Date: 2020-05-04T07:33:47Z
• Authors: CECILIA MANCUSI; ROMANO BAINO; CATERINA FORTUNA; LUIS GIL DE SOLA; GABRIEL MOREY; MOHAMED NEJMEDDIN...; ARGYRIOS KALLIANOTIS; ALEN SOLDO; FARID HEMIDA; ADIB ALI SAAD; MARK DIMECH; PANAGIOTA PERISTE...; MICHEL BARICHE; SIMONA CLÒ; ELEONORA DE SABATA; LAURA CASTELLANO; FULVIO GARIBALDI; LUCA LANTERI; FAUSTO TINTI; ANTONIO PAIS; EMILIO SPERONE; PRIMO MICARELLI; FRANCOIS POISSON; LETIZIA SION; ROBERTO CARLUCCI; DANIEL CEBRIAN-ME...; BERNARD SÉRET; FRANCESCO FERRETTI; ALAA EL-FAR; ISMET SAYGU; ESMAIL A. SHAKMAN; ALEX BARTOLI; JAVIER GUALLART; DIMITRIOS DAMALAS; PERSEFONI MEGALOF...; MARINO VACCHI; MASSIMILIANO BOTTARO; GIUSEPPE NOTARBAR...; MARIA CRISTINA FO...; RITA CANNAS; HAKAN KABASAKAL; BRUNO ZAVA; GRAZIELLA CAVLAN; ARMELLE JUNG; MOHAMMED ABUDAYA; JERINA KOLITARI; ADI BARASH; ALEKSANDAR JOKSIM...; BOJAN MARČETA; LUIS GONZALEZ VILAS; FRANCESCO TIRALONGO; IOANNIS GIOVOS; FILIPPO BARGNESI; STEFANO LELLI; MONICA BARONE; STEFANO MORO; CARLOTTA MAZZOLDI; CHARILAOU CHARIS; ALVARO JUAN ABELLA; FABRIZIO SERENA
• Keywords: large elasinobranch; Bycatch; databases; geographical distribution; large elasinobranchs; Mediterranean and Black seas; sharks; 2417.05 Biología Marina; 2510.01 Oceanografía Biológica; 0106 biological sciences; large elasmobranchs; Mediterranean and Black seas; 590; Cetorhinus-maximus gunnerus; cetorhinus-maximus gunnerus; 01 natural sciences; Pesquerías; database; Coast; 1st records; conservation; Bycatch; databases; geographical distribution; large elasmobranchs; Mediterranean and Black seas; sharks; large elasmobranch; carcharhinidae; coast; basking shark; Basking shark; 570; carcharodon-carcharias linnaeus; databases; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Carcharhinidae; Carcharodon-carcharias linnaeus; Sede Central IEO; Conservation; sharks; plumbeus chondrichthyes; Databases; Mediterranean and black seas; sharks.; By-catch; Large elasmobranchs; [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; sharks; by-catch; databases; large elasmobranchs; geographical distribution; Mediterranean and Black seas; geographical distribution; Bycatch ; databases ; geographical distribution ; large elasinobranchs ; Mediterranean and Black seas ; sharks; Plumbeus chondrichthyes; 14. Life underwater; Bycatch; Databases; Geographical distribution; Large elasmobranchs; Mediterranean and black seas; Sharks; Large elasinobranchs; large elasinobranchs; Mediterranean and Black sea; lamniformes cetorhinidae; by-catch; [SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Bycatch; Sharks; Lamniformes cetorhinidae; [SDV.BA.ZV] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Geographical distribution

The Mediterranean Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring (MEDLEM) database contains over 3000 records (more than 4000 individuals) of large elasmobranch species from 20 different countries around the Mediterranean and Black seas, observed from 1666 to 2017. The main species included in the archive are the devil fish (1 813 individuals), the basking shark (939 individuals), the blue shark (585 individuals) and the great white shark (337 individuals).In the last decades other species such as the shortfin mako (166 individuals), the spiny butterfly ray (138) and the thresher shark (174 individuals) were reported with an increasing frequency. This was possibly due to an increased public awareness on the conservation status of sharks, and a consequent development of new monitoring programmes. MEDLEM does not have a homogeneous reporting coverage throughout the Mediterranean and Black seas and it should be considered as a database of observed species presence. Scientific monitoring efforts in the south-eastern Mediterranean and Black seas are generally lower than in the northern sectors and the absence in our database of some species does not imply their actual absence in these regions. Some considerations are made on the frequency and spatial distribution of records, size structure of the observed individuals for selected species, general area coverage and species involved as by-catch by fishing gear.