Fish community structure on littoral rocky shores

Title:
Fish community structure on littoral rocky shores in the Eastern Aegean Sea: Effects of exposure and substratum (2010).
Authors:
Fien De Raedemaecker, Anastasia Miliou, Rupert Perkins

Abstract:
Littoral rocky shores are important habitats for many coastal fish species providing food, shelter and nursery grounds. Nearshore fish community structure results have been mainly derived from macro-scale habitat characteristics including depth and wave exposure but the influence of, and interaction with, micro-scale habitat substratum features is not well known. This study investigated the structure and functioning of the ichthyofauna composition on rocky substrata around the island of Arki in the Eastern Aegean Sea. Quantitative surveys of fish assemblage composition were carried out by Under-water Visual Census (UVC) at 14 sites assigned to three levels of exposure.