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Introduction
Additional affiliations
December 2011 - September 2017
July 2008 - December 2011
December 2000 - June 2008
Italian Central Institute for the Scientific and Technological Research Applied to the Sea (ICRAM)
Position
- Research Associate
Publications
Publications (63)
In the Mediterranean Sea, pelagic longline fisheries, targeting tuna and swordfish, have contributed significantly to the bycatch of threatened chondrichthyan species, such as blue shark (Prionace glauca). The Mediterranean blue shark population is assessed as critically endangered, making a timely implementation of mitigation measures crucial. A c...
Cartilaginous fish face significant threats due to overfishing and slow reproductive rates, leading to rapid declines in their populations globally. Traditional capture-based surveys, while valuable for gathering ecological information, pose risks to the health and survival of these species. Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVS) offer a no...
Study and protection of biodiversity have become increasingly relevant globally as biodiversity plays a key role in the ecosystem, largely supporting fish species.
However, fishing is among the primary threats to marine biodiversity, it can also serve as a valuable tool for its monitoring. The study aims to provide new knowledge on biodiversity in...
Fishery resources overexploitation, together with bycatch and discards, have an impact on marine ecosystems. The adoption of technologically innovative gears is a possible solution to reduce the discard and to enhance the sustainability of fishery, mainly in artisanal fisheries that represent about 80% of the EU Mediterranean fleet. In the perspect...
Nel presente lavoro è stato indagato il bioaccumulo di elementi in traccia in Elasmobranchi (squali e razze) del Mediterraneo Centrale (Sud Italia – Calabria). Gli elasmobranchi sono predatori al vertice delle piramidi alimentari e possono essere considerati degli ottimi bioindicatori semi-quantitativi della contaminazione ambientale. Lo studio si...
Large urban and industrial settlements, and the intense maritime traffic make the Mediterranean one of the most polluted areas in the world. This basin hosts considerable marine biodiversity, including many elasmobranchs, which are extremely vulnerable to environmental contamination due their life history traits. The impact of this threat on the ca...
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can significantly contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystem by safeguarding habitats, reducing fishing pressure, promoting population recovery, supporting scientific research, raising public awareness, generating economic benefits and fostering collaboration among various stakeholders.
Despite their relevance,...
The deep-sea can act as a sink for legacy contaminants such as organochlorines (OCs), causing damages in its inhabitants for their persistence and their prolonged effects in the organisms. HCB, DDT and its isomers, and 28 PCBs congeners were detected in muscle and embryonic tissues of three deep-sea chondrichthyes Chimaera monstrosa (n = 16), Dalat...
Chondrichthyans are one of the most threatened marine taxa worldwide. This is also the case in the
Mediterranean Sea, which is considered an extinction hotspot for rays and sharks. The central
position of the Italian peninsula makes it an ideal location for studying the status and changes of
this sea.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are powerful tool...
Elasmobranch populations have considerably decreased over the last decades: around 33% of the species are threatened with extinction (Dulvy et al., 2021). This raises concerns as sharks play a crucial role in the structure and functioning of marine communities; and their absence may lead to trophic cascades in the environment (Heithaus et al., 2014...
Due to their late maturation, extreme longevity, low fecundity and slow growth rates, deep-sea Chondrichthyes are extremely vulnerable to human impacts. Moreover, assessing the impact of deep-sea fisheries is difficult, as many species (including sharks) are part of the bycatch and are often discarded at sea, and/or landed under generic commercial-...
Environmental pollution, particularly in the marine environment, has become a significant concern due to the increasing presence of pollutants and their adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. This study focuses on the bioaccumulation of trace elements in the muscle tissue of the blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) from different areas...
The global decline of elasmobranch populations needs to develop management and conservation initiatives, and MPAs could play a crucial role.
This work focused on smooth-hound sharks, species of commercial interest, classified as vulnerable by European and Mediterranean IUCN red lists.
We monitored elasmobranch catches by the artisanal fishing flee...
Although historically widespread in most of the shallow and warm waters of the world, the presence of sawfishes in the Mediterranean Sea is still a debated question. For some authors, they never inhabited this basin except as vagrants, while for other authors both Pristis pristis and Pristis pectinata were present in the Mediterranean Sea but were...
The common angel shark (Squatina squatina), a critically endangered species inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea,
has been extirpated and considered locally extinct in the Adriatic Sea due to historical intense targeted fisheries.
Sighting and catches of the species are indeed currently occasional in the area. Here, we present a new record of a
juvenil...
Very little information is reported for parasites of cnidarians, therefore, the present work aimed to investigate parasitic infections in one of the most widespread jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea, Rhizostoma pulmo. The goals were to determine prevalence and intensity of parasites in R. pulmo, identify the species involved through morphological...
Fish aggregating devices (FADs) are used worldwide to attract fish. Previous studies revealed that FADs affect the distribution and dispersal patterns of juvenile fish species during their life stage under floating objects. In this study, we hypothesised that a system of FADs arranged along an inshore–offshore gradient could favour the approach of...
Considering the European waters, the IUCN indicates more than 30% of elasmobranch species as threatened.
Despite some recent efforts in EU to reduce shark by-catch and mortality, the main goals is far from being achieved, and conservation actions need to be set up there. This because the current legislation set out only prevents retention but not t...
Animals that continually live in deep sea habitats face unique challenges and require adaptive specializations solutions in order to locate and identify food, predators, and conspecifics. The Ampullae of Lorenzini are specialized electroreceptors used by chondrichthyans for important biological functions. Ampullary organs of the ghost shark Chimaer...
In this contribution the checklist of chondrichthyans of Calabria (Central Mediterranean, southern Italy) is reported. Data presented is derived from twenty years of opportunistic and active surveys from 2000 to 2020. A total of 55 species of chondrich-thyans is present in Calabrian seas: 33 sharks, 20 rays, and 2 chimaeras. These species represent...
Chondrichthyans are one of the most threatened marine taxa worldwide. This is also the case in the Mediterranean Sea, which is considered an extinction hotspot for rays and sharks. The central position of the Italian peninsula makes it an ideal location for studying the status and changes of this sea. There is a lack of biological, ecological and h...
About half of the elasmobranch species found in the Mediterranean Sea are threatened with extinction based on the latest regional IUCN assessment. Among other threats, bycatch has been identified as significant, as elasmobranch targeted fisheries are limited in the basin and several species are caught incidentally and often discarded dead. The mult...
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 (...
Conservation of apex predators is a key challenge both in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The white shark is a rare but persistent inhabitant of the Mediterranean Sea and it is currently assessed as “critically endangered” in the region. However, the population trends and dynamics of this species in the area are still unknown. Little is known ab...
Conservation of apex predators is a key challenge both in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and sharks represent one of the most endangered groups in the ocean as a consequence of fishing exploitation, high vulnerability and a generalized lack of data on ecology and conservation status. This situation is particularly critical in the Mediterranean...
From a historical point of view, the Mediterranean Sea represents one of the areas in which the most ancient evidences of interaction between humans and sharks are available for a long period of time. The first evidence can be, in fact, identified in the early Bronze age with the development of fishing communities in the eastern Mediterranean, whos...
It is presented the analyses on the MEDLEM (Mediterranean Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring) database that, up to now, contains more than 2000 records and over 2700 individuals of large elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean coming from 20 different countries. The main species represented in the archive are devil rays (736 individuals), basking sharks (ab...
The Mediterranean Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring (MEDLEM) database contains more than 2000 records (n>3000 individuals) of large elasmobranchs species from 20 different countries around the Mediterranean Sea caught or observed from 1666 to 2014. The main species represented in the archive are devil rays (736 individuals), basking sharks (682 indivi...
Pleuragramma antarcticum is the dominant pelagic fish in the waters of the continental shelf in high
Antarctic regions, where it plays a key role in the food web. A nursery ground for eggs of this species was first identified in 2002 in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea), where eggs were found trapped in ice platelets under the sea-ice during the spring. As...
The Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias, Linnaeus 1758), is an apex predator living in almost all the seas of the world, preferring cold-temperate and temperate waters among the 8 and the 25°C. The Great White Shark occurs in both inshore and offshore waters. Known bathymetric range is from just below the surface to just above the bottom down...
The diet of juvenile specimens of Raja radula from the Ionian Sea was investigated. The stomach contents of 43 specimens were analysed in order to evaluate composite index (IRI Index of Relative Importance). To assess feeding strategy and trophic niche width, prey-specific biomass plotted against frequency of occurrence and Levins index were used,...
“Assessment of the incidental captures of protected species in the pelagic trawl (BYCATCH III)”.
Bycatch is still one of the main sources of anthropogenic mortality of species of conservation
concern worldwide. Within the European Community, Member States are required to monitor
and mitigate it, in order to insure a truly sustainable use of the mar...
Target strength (TS) of preserved (frozen and defrosted) Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum) of total length (TL) from 110 to 202.5 mm were measured ex situ (Ancona Bay) at 38, 120 and 200 kHz in May 2007 and in February 2009. Overall ex situ TS-TL relationships were: TS38 = 36.83Log TL(cm) -103.62 (N = 18); TS120 = 34.75Log TL(cm) -84....
The Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, providing one of the major links between lower and higher trophic
levels. Despite the importance of this species, surprisingly little is known of its early development. The first spawning
area for the silverfish has been recently identified in t...
A total of fifteen adult specimens of the so-called ‘lessepsian sprinter’ Fistularia commersonii were captured by bottom trawlers and gill-netters operating along the Latium coasts, Italy, in October–November 2007. This non-native species is established in the eastern Mediterranean but it has been sporadically reported beyond the Strait of Sicily....
A male specimen of Leucoraja circularis was captured in January 2005 by a bottom trawler operating south-east off the Anzio coast (central Tyrrhenian Sea). Biometric and meristic characters of the specimen are presented. This capture represents the first documented record of the species in the central Tyrrhenian Sea.
The mechanosensory lateral line (LL) is involved in many fish and amphibian behaviors, however little is known about the molecules involved in the signal transmission. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has a number of functions in vertebrate physiology and also plays important roles in different sensory systems. The Antarctic nototheniods are a monophyletic rad...
The aim of this work was to investigate the distribution of regulative molecules in the stomach of juvenile Dicentrarchus labrax during compensatory growth, using immunohistochemical methods. Antisera against galanin, neuropeptide Y, ghrelin, leptin, and serotonin were used on fasted and refed D. labrax. The results show a characteristic distributi...
The presence and distribution of FMRFamide-like peptides (FLPs) in the cyprid larvae of the barnacle Balanus amphitrite were investigated using immunohistochemical methods. Barnacles are considered to be one of the most important constituents of animal fouling communities, and the cyprid stage is specialized for settlement and metamorphosis in to t...
The Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum is a keystone species in the Ross Sea ecosystem, providing one of the major links between lower and higher trophic levels. Despite the importance of this species, surprisingly little is known of its early development. The first spawning area for the silverfish has been recently identified in the nea...
The first confirmed records of two blonde rays (Raja brachyura) in the Ligurian Sea for 140 years are described. Two specimens were caught off Cogoleto (western Ligurian Sea) and they were deposited in the Civic Museum of Natural History ‘Giacomo Doria’ of Genoa. Morphometric and meristic features have been reported.
The first case of albinism in the kitefin shark, Dalatias licha, is reported here through the study of one specimen caught by professional bottom trawl in the Gulf of Genoa, Ligurian Sea. The albino surface was quantified and morphometric and meristic characteristics were compared with those of normal specimens of the same sex and equivalent length...
Crypt neurons are olfactory receptor cells located in the olfactory epithelium of fishes. They exhibit a peculiar and well-recognizable morphology, although their odorant specificity is still unknown. Data on their appearance during development are few and far between. This study set out to identify the time at which crypt neurons appeared in the s...
Olfactory marker protein (OMP) is a protein expressed in the mature olfactory and vomeronasal neurons of many vertebrates, such as mammals, amphibians and bony fishes. Aim of this work was to investigate the OMP expression in the olfactory epithelium of the shark Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758), by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Immunoreactivit...
Research on reproduction in Antarctic fishes has been primarily focused on evaluation of macroscopic features while microscopic studies have been limited to very few species. In particular no data are available on plunderfishes of the family Artedidraconidae. In order to provide a preliminary description of gonads in the South Georgian plunderfish...
To date only peptidergic innervation has been described in the alimentary tract of barnacles. In the present work the presence and distribution of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), the acetylcholine (ACh) synthesizing enzyme, was investigated by immunohistochemistry in the alimentary tract of the adult barnacle Balanus amphitrite. Numerous ChAT-imm...
Na+/K+ATPase immunoreactivity in olfactory epithelium of Scyliorhinus canicula was localized in well featured light large cells. It was distributed in the basolateral membranes as reported in the literature for typical ion exchanging cells.
A new receptor neuron (RN) type was recently described in bony fish olfactory epithelium (OE): the crypt receptor neuron. This name is due to its main feature: the presence, at the apical part, of a deep invagination into which cilia protrude. The presence of this receptor neuron type is well documented in different species of bony fishes but it ha...
In this study, the presence and distribution of FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity in the alimentary tract of barnacle Balanus amphitrite were investigated. A net of nerve fibers strongly immunoreactive to FMRFamide-like molecules was localized in the posterior midgut and hindgut. Positive varicose nerve terminals were also localized close to the circ...
The number and distribution of ampullary pores present on the blackmouth catshark, Galeus
melastomus and the velvet belly dogfish, Etmopterus
spinax do not differ with the size/maturity or gender of the specimen and were found to be related to prey preference.
The occurrence of lead in various bone tissues of Trematomusbernacchii was investigated in order to identify the optimal target tissue and to examine potential relationships between bone lead concentration and fish size and age. Lead concentration values found in vertebrae and jaws (0.44 ± 0.13 and 0.41 ± 0.09 1 of dry weight tissue, respectively)...
Internal stomach melanism was observed in two scalloped ribbonfish Zu cristatus from the Ligurian Sea. The phenomenon may help prevent advertizing the presence of this species after consumption of bioluminescent prey.