Striped dolphins north of Ikaria, just before sunset
The striped dolphins pictured here belong to a large social group consisting of more than 200 individuals. This highly social species always hunts cooperatively, displaying remarkable coordination. They forage in offshore pelagic waters, far from the coast, generally avoiding fishing grounds and fishing gear, with which they rarely interact. The marine area of the Ikaria […]
Protecting Spawning Aggregations: A Prerequisite for the Future of Our Seas
Beneath the surface of the sea, nature is renewing itself. The period from spring through early summer is the most important time of the year for the reproduction of hundreds of marine species. Over the past few months, and continuing to this day, Archipelagos researchers have been recording increasing numbers of spawning fish aggregations of […]
Marine Mammal Bioacoustics: Investigating the Sounds of Communication
As part of the JJBA Bioacoustics Conference, held in Besançon, France, Archipelagos researchers Elisa Lamberti and Margherita Medina presented the latest findings from our research on the communication sounds of striped dolphins and short-beaked common dolphins in the eastern Aegean Sea. Bioacoustics is an invaluable, non-invasive research tool for understanding the communication, social organization, and […]
Pufferfish and Other Invasive Species: Has the Time Finally Come to Have a Serious Discussion About the Issue?
“Effective protection of fish reproduction is a prerequisite for the recovery of fish populations and the restoration of healthy marine ecosystems, which have the natural ability to self-regulate and limit population surges of alien species, jellyfish, and other marine organisms.” Amid the unwarranted fear-mongering that has prevailed in recent weeks in the media and on […]
A sperm whale breaching in the North Ikaria Trench
Watching a 20-ton sperm whale launch its entire body out of the water is one of the most extraordinary sights the sea can offer. Although sperm whales breach only occasionally, we observe this behaviour from time to time, mainly during periods of intense social activity. These spectacular leaps are thought to be closely linked to […]
Bottlenose Dolphins: Free in the Open Sea or in Captivity?
A. Bottlenose dolphins in the Fourni island complex The bottlenose dolphin is one of the four dolphin species we study in the Greek seas. Yet it is also the species that, even today, continues to suffer at the hands of humans through commercial exploitation in dolphinaria around the world, where more than 3,000 bottlenose dolphins […]
Goose-beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) in the waters of the northeastern Aegean
A relatively little-known and rarely observed marine mammal that inhabits the Greek seas and has been systematically studied by the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation for the past 26 years. It is the only large marine mammal in the Mediterranean that does not undertake seasonal migrations, but instead remains within the same broader marine area […]
Διήμερο Συνέδριο του International School of the Sea του Ινστιτούτου Αρχιπέλαγος
“Σε μια εποχή όπου τα προβλήματα που έχουμε δημιουργήσει στη φύση διογκώνονται με ραγδαίους ρυθμούς, οι προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζουν οι θάλασσες και τα οικοσυστήματα του πλανήτη είναι κοινές και η αντιμετώπισή τους δεν μπορεί παρά να είναι συλλογική. Η πραγματική έρευνα πεδίου δίνει στη νέα γενιά επιστημόνων τη δυνατότητα να γνωρίσει αυτές τις προκλήσεις από […]
Two-Day Conference of the Archipelagos Institute’s International School of the Sea
“At a time when the problems we have created in nature are escalating at an unprecedented pace, the challenges facing the world’s seas and ecosystems are shared, and addressing them must also be a collective effort. Real field research gives the next generation of scientists the opportunity to experience these challenges first-hand, while developing the […]
Archipelagos and Roger Williams University Launch Permanent Field Research Program in the Aegean
After two years of preparation, the new university course “Science & Local Ecological Knowledge” has been successfully completed. The course was jointly developed with the Department of Environmental Studies at Roger Williams University (USA) and has now been established as a permanent academic program in the Aegean. Each year, it will bring students and faculty […]
