Luigi Musco

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• Professor
• Professor (Associate) at University of Salento

Predation occurs when an organism completely or partially consumes its prey. Partial consumption is typical of herbivores but is also common in some marine microbenthic carnivores that feed on colonial organisms. Associations between nudibranch molluscs and colonial hydroids have long been assumed to be simple predator-prey relationships. Here we s...

Biogenic reefs, such as those produced by tube-dwelling polychaetes of the genus Sabellaria, are valuable marine habitats which are a focus of protection according to European legislation. The achievement of this goal is potentially hindered by the lack of essential empirical data, especially in the Mediterranean Sea. This study addresses some of t...

The Syllidae are geographically widespread polychaetes, particularly diverse and abundant on marine hard bottoms and in seagrass meadows. Hydrodynamics, habitat complexity and biological traits are hypothesized to influence syllid bathymetric distribution. Little is known about the consistency of, or variation in, horizontal distribution patterns w...

Fish bites at sea are typically attributed to aggressive and large-sized species, such as sharks, while reports of attacks by smaller, non-aggressive species are usually rare. This study presents the first documented cases of Diplodus sargus (the White Seabream) bites on humans. Two episodes involving minor injuries to swimmers, while in one of the...

Even though the Mediterranean Sea is one of the best known marine ecoregion in the world, the diversity and distribution of several groups of marine invertebrates, including polychaetous annelids, are still far from being completed. In the context of a revision of the Italian checklist, the latest version of which is updated to 2005, we provide new...

Short summary: The list of alien marine faunal species reported along the Apulian coasts until 2010 is updated with data resulting from numerous ad hoc samplings adding several new findings. 70 new species were added, especially among Polychaeta, Mollusca, Crustacea, Ascidiacea, while alien Bryozoa are recorded for the first time. Among the recorde...

Sampling activities conducted in the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, southern Lebanon, to study the marine annelid fauna of the area, allowed for the revision of the diversity of this group in Lebanon. We particularly focused on non-indigenous species (NIS), which were characterised from morphological and molecular points of view. A total of 116 taxa we...

Group living is widespread and beneficial to metazoans. It improves protection and survival opportunities, reinforcing interspecific competitiveness. Benthic cnidarians often colonize large surfaces. Evidence of collective capture and exploitation of large prey by small, clumped polyps suggests that aggregation is functional to access food resource...

As promoted by the recent Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 "Nature Restoration Law," a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the protection and conservation measures are necessary to address coastal habitats' degradation caused by human activities. In many cases, active restoration is required to restore ecosystem services and halt biodiversity los...

While invasive non-indigenous species (NIS) are traditionally blamed for their negative effects on the native biota and human activities, recent studies highlighted that impacts provided by NIS are multifaceted, and their eventual outcome is often non-obvious. Invasive NIS are often considered harmful for native biodiversity and ecosystem services,...

We report new records for three potentially non-indigenous polychaetes in Italian waters. The Nereididae Leonnates aylaoberi Çinar & Dağli, 2013 is reported for the first time in the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Adriatic Sea; this species has type locality in the Mediterranean Sea, but the genus Leonnates has Indo-Pacific affinity, and its distinctive ch...

The microbiome plays a key role in the health of all metazoans. Whether and how the microbiome favors the adaptation processes of organisms to extreme conditions, such as those of Antarctica, which are incompatible with most metazoans, is still unknown. We investigated the microbiome of three endemic and widespread species of Antarctic polychaetes:...

A female copepod specimen belonging to the family Botryllophilidae Sars G.O., 1921 was retrieved for the first time in December 2023 from nautical ropes of the tourist marina in Palermo (Cala Marina), near the commercial port of the city. The individual lacks many of the distinctive morpho-anatomical characteristics of the class Copepoda, as usual...

The feeding upon large animals—even larger than the predator—by benthic cnidarians has been reported from many ecosystems but never exhaustively studied to date. By reviewing 38 papers on this topic, this review aims to recap the observations on the predatory behaviour of polyps, to establish feeding plasticity boundaries and to understand the cont...

The Salento Peninsula represents the eastern-most edge of the Italian Peninsula, and one of the first areas to be invaded by thermophilic non-indigenous species. The diversity of non-indigenous polychaetes occurring along the Salento Peninsula is reviewed based on literature data and new samples. Overall, fifteen non-indigenous polychaetes were rec...

Cnidarians may dominate benthic communities, as in the case of coral reefs that foster biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services. Polyps may feed by predating mesozooplantkon and large motile prey, but many species further obtain autotrophic nutrients from photosymbiosis. Anthropogenic disturbance, such as the rise of seawater temperatu...

Citizen science and spatial ecology analyses can inform species distributions, habitat preferences, and threats in elusive and endangered species such as seahorses. Through a dedicated citizen science survey submitted to the Italian diving centers, we collected 115 presence records of the two seahorses occurring along the Italian coasts: Hippocampu...

Citizen science and spatial ecology analyses can inform species distributions, habitat preferences, and threats in elusive and endangered species such as seahorses. Through a dedicated citizen science survey submitted to the Italian diving points, we collected 115 presence records of the two seahorses occurring in this country, Hippocampus hippocam...

The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most exploited regions of the world’s oceans. Here industrial activities have determined either acute or long-term impacts on coastal marine ecosystems. In this study, we investigated macrofauna distribution and diversity, and food-web functioning in a coastal area of the Mediterranean Sea facing an industrial ch...

The complex mixture of anthropogenic pressure determines the impact on the marine biota, hampering the ecosystem’s functioning. The coast of Alexandria, Egypt, experiences multiple human pressure, including sewage discharge, engineering activities (urbanization) for armoring purposes, and beach nourishment. Hard-bottom polychaete assemblages are de...

The hidden invasion of the alien seagrass Halophila stipulacea (Forsskal) Ascherson along Southeastern Italy ANDREA TOSO, LUIGI MUSCO Abstract The seagrass Halophila stipulacea (Forsskål) Ascherson (Hydrocharitaceae) is a non-indigenous species (NIS) for the Medi-terranean Sea. This species is expected to have a high potential for invasiveness base...

The Anthropocene is characterized by dramatic ecosystem changes driven by human activities. The impact of these activities can be assessed by different geochemical and paleontological proxies. However, each of these proxies provides only a fragmentary insight into the effects of anthropogenic impacts. It is highly challenging to reconstruct, with a...

The process of site selection and spatial planning has received scarce attention in the scientific literature dealing with marine restoration, suggesting the need to better address how spatial planning tools could guide restoration interventions. In this study, for the first time, the consequences of adopting different restoration targets and crite...

The expected bioremediation effect, driven by the conversion of an inshore mariculture plant into an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) system, which could mitigate the fish farm impact, related to the accumulation of organic matter on the seabed, has been studied. The ecological quality status was studied following a Before-After-Control-...

Individuals identified as Aricidea assimilis Tebble, 1959 were collected from ten localities across the Mediterranean Sea from 0.5 to 225 m depth in order to have a wide coverage of the species habitats and geographic range and to assess the effects of environmental factors and biogeographical barriers on molecular and morphological diversity. Two...

In bioinspired soft robotics, very few studies have focused on fluidic transmissions and there is an urgent need for translating fluidic concepts into realizable fluidic components to be applied in different fields. Nature has often offered an inspiring reference to design new efficient devices. Inspired by the working principle of a marine worm, t...

The honeycomb worm Sabellaria alveolata is a gregarious tube-dwelling polychaete that builds remarkable biogenic reefs in marine coastal waters. Sabellaria alveolata reefs are considered valuable marine habitats requiring protection measures for their conservation, as they play a key role in the functioning of coastal ecosystems. Sabellarid reefs a...

Polychaetes of the genus Sabellaria (Annelida, Sabellariidae) are gregarious bioconstructors that build reefs by assembling rigid tubes with sand grains in shallow waters. Sabellarid bioconstructions provide important ecosystem services such as sediment stabilization, water filtration and the mitigation of coastal erosion as well as nursery areas,...

Local, regional and global targets have been set to halt marine biodiversity loss. Europe has set its own policy targets to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine ecosystems by implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) across member states. We combined an extensive dataset across five Mediterranean ecoregions including...

Substrate and depth are known to be crucial factors in determining the spatial distribution of benthic communities. Herein, we explored if the nature of the substrate, living (i.e., macroalgae) and non-living (i.e., bare rock), may influence the hydroid assemblages of the Tuscany Archipelago (Italy), in relation to the bathymetric gradient. Samples...

Present and past industrial activities in coastal areas have left us a legacy of contamination and habitat degradation with potential implications for human health. Here, we investigated a coastal marine area enclosed in a Site of National Interest (SNI) of the central-western Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea), where priority actions of environmental re...

Invasive seaweeds are listed among the most relevant threats to marine ecosystems worldwide. Biodiversity hotspots, such as the Mediterranean Sea, are facing multiple invasions and are expected to be severely affected by the introduction of new non-native seaweeds in the near future. In this study, we evaluated the consequences of the shift from th...

Sabellida are widespread, diverse and abundant in marine benthic habitats. Their distribution patterns on hard-bottom substrates are poorly studied so far. Little is known about the factors influencing their distribution, including the protection regimes that are known to affect assemblage diversity. We analyzed hard-bottom Sabellida at 1.5 and 5 m...

Invasive seaweeds are listed among the most relevant threats to marine ecosystems worldwide. Biodiversity hotspots, such as the Mediterranean Sea, are facing multiple invasions and are expected to be severely affected by the introduction of new non-native seaweeds in the near future. In this study, we evaluated the consequences of the shift from th...

Coastal areas impacted by high anthropogenic pressures typically display sediment contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals (HMs). Microbial-based bioremediation represents a promising strategy for sediment reclamation, yet it frequently fails due to poor knowledge of the diversity and dynamics of the autochthonous m...

Anthropogenic litter negatively impacts the marine environment and threatens biodiversity. At the same time, it represents a suitable substrate for the settlement of sessile species, thus potentially altering composition and structure of soft bottom benthic assemblages. By using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), we hereby investigated patterns of...

Marine organisms with fast growth rates and great biological adaptive capacity might have biotechnological interests, since ecological competitiveness might rely on enhanced physiological or biochemical processes’ capability promoting protection, defense, or repair intracellular damages. The invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea, a non-indigenous...

The invertebrates ability to adapt to the environment during motion represents an intriguing feature to inspire robotic systems. We analysed the sipunculid species Phascolosoma stephensoni (Sipunculidae, Annelida), and quantitatively studied the motion behaviour of this unsegmented worm. The hydrostatic skeleton and the muscle activity make the inf...

Violet sea squirts are noteworthy model organisms, because they provide insights into various physiologic processes, including cell senescence, ageing, apoptosis and allorecognition. Consequently, their culture is critical to permit experimental studies. Most papers refer to short periods of rearing using various feeds, both living and conserved, m...

Calvo et al. (2020) criticize a new seagrass rehabilitation method proposed by Alagna et al. (2019) and inspired by the Posidonia oceanica spontaneous recovery observed at Capo Feto (Sicily), were recolonization was detected almost exclusively on rubbles deployed to fill a pipeline trench. Calvo et al. (2020) claim that natural recovery occurred co...

The knowledge on the hard bottom polychaete assemblages in the Northern Adriatic Sea, a Mediterranean region strongly affected by environmental pressures, is scarce and outdated. The objective of this paper was to update the information on polychaete diversity and depict their patterns of natural spatial variation, in relation to changes in algal c...

Marine biotechnology is promising to provide new solutions to society and humans, such as for health protection or natural treatments against diseases. In this framework, different strategies are explored to select marine organisms to initiate the pipeline, hopefully ended by the product development. Organisms with fast growth rates and great biolo...

The area of Bagnoli (Gulf of Naples, central Tyrrhenian Sea) has been heavily exposed to pollution for over a century due to the presence of industrial sites along its coastline. The aim of this study is to analyze contaminant concentrations (i.e., heavy metals and hydrocarbons) in seabed sediments through a statistical multivariate approach. Multi...

Coastal sediments subjected to high anthropogenic impacts can accumulate large amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and metals, demanding effective and eco-sustainable remediation solutions. In this study, we carried out bioremediation experiments on marine sediments highly contaminated with PAHs and metals. In particular, we investig...

In this paper, the advantages of shaping a non-conventional triple collocation-based calibration of a wave propagation model is pointed out. Illustrated through a case study in the Bagnoli-Coroglio Bay (central Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), a multi-comparison between numerical data and direct measurements have been carried out. The nearshore wave propaga...

The date mussel Lithophaga lithophaga is an edible endolithic bivalve, protected by the EU Habitats Directive and other international agreements, living inside carbonate rocks. Its illegal harvesting is carried by breaking the rocks where the bivalve grows. The impact has cascade consequences as it causes permanent changes in the substrate characte...

Chemical contamination of marine ecosystems represents a major concern for the detrimental consequences at different levels of biological organization. However, the impact of chronic contamination on the diversity and assemblage composition of benthic prokaryotes is still largely unknown, and this limits our understanding of the potential implicati...

Underwater noise is one of the most widespread threats to the world oceans. Its negative impact on fauna is nowadays well established, but baseline data to be used in management and monitoring programs are still largely lacking. In particular, the acoustic assessment of human-impacted marine coastal areas provides complementary information on the h...

Non-indigenous species (NIS) represent one of the most relevant threats to biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and human activities, and their occurrence and spread have been the subject of numerous works and revisions. However, the information available is rather confused for several taxa, including polychaetes, which are characterised by having a...

The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the practical importance of a multidisciplinary approach and weighted criteria to synthesize and integrate different typologies of data (or lines of evidence, LOEs), including chemical levels in marine sediments, their bioavailability to specific indicator species, ecotoxicological effects measured thro...

The impact of plastic debris, and in particular of microplastics (here referred as particles smaller than 5 mm) on aquatic environments has now become a topic of raising concern. Microplastics are particularly abundant in the Mediterranean Sea, potentially exerting substantial pressures on marine organisms at different levels of organization. Inges...

Natural storms are able to determine reworking of seabed up to considerable depths and favour suspension of sediment-associated chemicals. Yet, a direct link between exposure to resuspended contaminants and the biological effects on marine organisms have to be fully established. We exposed adults of a suspension feeder, the ascidian Ciona robusta,...

Pollutants alter marine systems, interfering with provisioning of ecosystem services; understanding their interaction with ecological communities is therefore critical to inform environmental management. Here we propose a joint interaction- and compositional-based analysis for ecological status assessment and apply it on the benthic communities of...

Dismissed industrial plants with chronic environmental contamination globally affect all levels of biological organization in concert with other natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Assessing the impact of such perturbations and finding effective ways to mitigate them have clear ecological and societal implications. Through indoor manipulative...

In marinas and harbours, the accumulation of pollutants in sediments, combined with poor exchange of water with the open sea, poses a major environmental threat. The presence of photosynthetic organisms and the related oxygen production, however, may alleviate the negative effects of environmental contamination on heterotrophic organisms, enhancing...

The family Syllidae, aside from representing the most species-rich family in Annelida, is characterized by a number of sexual and asexual reproductive strategies. With the exception of a few viviparous species, the subfamily Syllinae is characterized by schizogamous reproduction with pelagic larval stages and without parental care. Laboratory reari...

Marine sediments store complex mixtures of compounds, including heavy metals, organotins and a large array of other contaminants. Sediment quality monitoring, characterization and management are priorities, due to potential impacts of the above compounds on coastal waters and their biota, especially in cases of pollutants released during dredging a...

The effects of contaminants on marine organisms have been documented since decades, but the long-term responses and recovery rates of benthic communities to mixtures of contaminants, several years after the cessation of industrial activities, need to be further investigated. Bagnoli-Coroglio Bay (Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea) is a typical example...

The aim of the study is to provide a synthesis on the biodiversity of zoobenthic species diversity and benthic habitat distribution of Site of National Interest (SNI) of Bagnoli-Coroglio (Gulf of Naples, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy), which represents one of the priority areas selected at National level for habitat restoration, and is located within the G...

Abstract Shallow-water marine organisms are among the first to suffer from combined effects of natural and anthropogenic drivers. The orange coral Astroides calycularis is a shallow-water bioconstructor species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Although raising conservation interest, also given its special position within the Dendrophylliidae, info...

Seagrasses are among the most threatened biomes worldwide. Until now, seagrass rehabilitation success has reached about 38% overall and more effective approaches to restoration are urgently needed. Here we report a novel method to rehabilitate Posidonia oceanica meadows based on observation of the species' natural recovery after disturbance. Posido...

Native generalist grazers can control the populations of non-indigenous invasive algae (NIIA). Here, it was found that the simultaneous consumption of two co-occurring NIIA, Caulerpa cylindracea and C. taxifolia var. distichophylla, hinders the grazing ability of the main Mediterranean herbivorous, the native sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. The i...

Coralline algae represent the most important bioconstructors in the Mediterranean Sea and are currently impaired by the effects of climate change (CC), particularly by global warming and ocean acidification (OA). We studied the effects of these two drivers on Ellisolandia elongata, an intertidal coralline algae that is known to host a rich biodiver...

Marine ecosystems are globally threatened by human activities, but some areas, such as those affected by abandoned industrial plants, show an overlap of acute and chronic impacts, which determine a considerable deterioration of their health status. Here we report the results of a research conducted on coastal sewers that discharge their loads in th...

Marine bioconstructions are biodiversity-rich, three-dimensional biogenic structures, regulating key ecological functions of benthic ecosystems worldwide. Tropical coral reefs are outstanding for their beauty, diversity and complexity, but analogous types of bioconstructions are also present in temperate seas. The main bioconstructions in the Medit...

Predation on the large, venomous jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca by the stony coral Astroides calycularis is illustrated. The coral occurs in the western Mediterranean, while the jellyfish is cosmopolitan in temperate and warm seas. The coral lacks symbiotic zooxanthellae and has small polyps with tiny mouths. It forms cup-shaped colonies on vertical c...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

Marine bioconstructions are biodiversity-rich, three-dimensional biogenic structures, regulating key ecological functions of benthic ecosystems worldwide. Tropical coral reefs are outstanding for their beauty, diversity and complexity, but analogous types of bioconstructions are also present in temperate seas. The main bioconstructions in the Medit...

Dark marine habitats are often characterized by a food-limited condition. Peculiar dark habitats include marine caves, characterized by the absence of light and limited water flow, which lead to reduced fluxes of organic matter for cave-dwelling organisms. We investigated whether the most abundant and common cave-dwelling fish Apogon imberbis has t...

The carotenoid astaxanthin has strong antioxidant properties with beneficial effects for various degenerative diseases. This carotenoid is produced by some microalgae species when cultivated in particular conditions, and, interestingly, it is a predominant carotenoid in aquatic animals throughout a broad range of taxa. Recently, astaxanthin was det...

Research Infrastructures (RIs) are facilities, resources and services used by the scientific community to conduct research and foster innovation. LifeWatch ERIC has developed various virtual research environments, which include many virtual laboratories (vLabs) offering high computational capacity and comprehensive collaborative platforms that supp...

A phyllodocid polychaete belonging to the genus Eulalia is reported from Nuevo Gulf, Patagonia (South-western Atlantic Ocean) with abundant populations thriving in the intertidal zone. Morphological and molecular data allowed assigning this population to Eulalia clavigera (Audouin & Milne-Edwards, 1834), a species typically occurring along the nort...

Despite almost two centuries of research, the diversity of Mediterranean deep-sea environments remain still largely unexplored. This is particularly true for the polychaete family Syllidae. We report herein 14 species; among them, we describe Erinaceusyllis barbarae n. sp., Exogone sophiae n. sp. and Prosphaerosyllis danovaroi n. sp. and report Par...