Evidence of Nesting Area of Caretta caretta and Potential Foraging Areas of Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas on Samos and Lipsi Islands, North-Eastern Aegean Sea

Title:
Evidence of Nesting Area of Caretta caretta and Potential Foraging Areas of Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas on Samos and Lipsi Islands, North-Eastern Aegean Sea

Authors:
Pietroluongo G., Quintana B., Dias V., Falquina Fernández F.J., Gheorghiu A., Moscatelli S., Grandjean T., Antichi S., Ashok K., Delaveri K., Miliou A

Introduction:
The regular presence of two species of sea turtles, Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas, was recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea1 . The Aegean Sea is known to be a foraging habitat related to Posidonia oceanica meadows. Greece and Turkey alone represent more than 75% of the nesting effort in the Mediterranean2,3. The North-Eastern Aegean area is considered data-deficient or data-absent, despite significant research advances in the recent years. This study aims to determine the presence of foraging and nesting areas on the islands of Samos and Lipsi.