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The abundance and diversity of mostly juvenile fishes associated with plastic macro-litter floating by wind and surface currents were observed during last two decades by using visual census as an experimental tool in the nearshore and open waters of the eastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia. Ten fish species belonging to six families were identified associated with floating litter. Most of the specimens observed were juveniles suggesting the importance of floating objects as a nurseries, and thus in the recruitment and redistribution of young fishes. Marine litter represent a matter of growing concern for the Mediterranean Sea due deeply altering the structure of native communities. However, the role of floating marine litter as habitat/shelter or as a dispersal agent for fishes have received relatively little attention. Results from the present study suggest that fishes opportunistically use whatever habitats as shelters are available in pelagic environments where substrates are scarce. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most polluted seas worldwide, especially with regard to plastics. The vast quantities of floating anthropogenic debris, comprised primarily of non-biodegradable plastic polymers, probably will augment natural floating substrates in marine environment and include large effects and interactions with species exposed to massive litter quantities. Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) of traditional fishermen and people who are often on the sea are very valuable source of information regarding the fishes associated with floating marine litter.

Marine Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) are animals and plants introduced accidently or deliberately into the European seas, originating from other seas of the globe. About 800 marine non-indigenous species (NIS)currently occur in the European Union national marine waters, several of which have negative impacts on marine ecosystem services and biodiversity. Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 2 (D2), EU Member States (MSs) need to consider NIS in their marine management strategies. The Descriptor D2 includes one primary criterion (D2C1: new NIS introductions), and two secondary criteria (D2C2 and D2C3). The D2 implementation is characterized by a number of issues and uncertainties which can be applicable to the Descriptor level (e.g. geographical unit of assessment, assessment period, phytoplanktonic, parasitic, oligohaline NIS, etc.), to the primary criterion D2C1 level (e.g. threshold values, cryptogenic, questionable species, etc), and to the secondary criteria D2C2 and D2C3. The current report tackles these issues and provides practical recommendations aiming at a smoother and more efficient implementation of D2 and its criteria at EU level. They constitute a solid operational output which can result in more comparable D2 assessments among MSsand MSFD regions/subregions. When it comes to the policy-side, the current report calls for a number of different categories of NIS to be reported in D2 assessments, pointing the need for the species to be labelled/categorised appropriately in the MSFD reporting by the MSs. These suggestions are proposed to be communicated to the MSFD Working Group of Good Environmental Status (GES) and subsequently to the Marine Strategy Coordination Group (MSCG) of MSFD. Moreover, they can serve as an input for revising the Art. 8 Guidelines.

Marine Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) are animals and plants introduced accidently or deliberately into the European seas, originating from other seas of the globe. About 800 marine non-indigenous species (NIS) currently occur in the European Union national marine waters, several of which have negative impacts on marine ecosystem services and biodiversity. Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 2 (D2), EU Member States (MSs) need to consider NIS in their marine management strategies. The Descriptor D2 includes one primary criterion (D2C1: new NIS introductions), and two secondary criteria (D2C2 and D2C3). The D2 implementation is characterized by a number of issues and uncertainties which can be applicable to the Descriptor level (e.g. geographical unit of assessment, assessment period, phytoplanktonic, parasitic, oligohaline NIS, etc.), to the primary criterion D2C1 level (e.g. threshold values, cryptogenic, questionable species, etc), and to the secondary criteria D2C2 and D2C3. The current report tackles these issues and provides practical recommendations aiming at a smoother and more efficient implementation of D2 and its criteria at EU level. They constitute a solid operational output which can result in more comparable D2 assessments among MSs and MSFD regions/subregions. When it comes to the policy- side, the current report calls for a number of different categories of NIS to be reported in D2 assessments, pointing the need for the species to be labelled/categorised appropriately in the MSFD reporting by the MSs. These suggestions are proposed to be communicated to the MSFD Working Group of Good Environmental Status (GES) and subsequently to the Marine Strategy Coordination Group (MSCG) of MSFD. Moreover, they can serve as an input for revising the Art. 8 Guidelines.

The area around Shoal of Jabuka, 2300 m west of Jabuka Islet (central Adriatic Sea), has rarely been investigated for macroalgae. The most historical research was done during the 1950s. Comparison and supplementation historical data with our preliminary studies demonstrate that this area has a unique composition, a large number of species and high biomass of macroalgae. Our research was carried out in September 2016 and May 2017. Samples were collected along transects in NE-SW direction by scuba diving up to 35 m deep. From the samples collected in the fall, we identified 171 taxa. Biomass was dominated by the populations of Fucales (Cystoseira spp. and Sargassum spp.). Dense vegetation of infralittoral algae reached up to 40 m deep. Four taxa of Cystoseira and two of Sargassum was recorded. In the whole Mediterranean, including the Adriatic, there has been a recent decline and disappearance of these species due to anthropogenic impact, overgrazing of sea urchins, native and alien herbivorous fish. All Cystoseira species that were found on the Shoal of Jabuka are listed on the list of protected species in Annex II (Barcelona Convention). Among them, we identified very rare species such as Cystoseira jabukae and Sargassum hornschuchii. Natura 2000 network doesn’t include the Shoal of Jabuka in any category of protection. The large number, density and specific composition of macrobenthic flora, would serve in the evaluation of this area as a unique area and hotspot of biodiversity for macroalgae in the Adriatic Sea.

U ovom istraživanju obrađena je skupina mnogočetinaša na području Kaštelanskog zaljeva, a posebno je analizirana porodica Syllidae s obzirom na njenu osjetljivost na antropogene utjecaje. Uzorkovanje algi i beskralješnjaka obavljeno je ronjenjem na sedam postaja na području zaljeva u zajednicama algi, na dubinama do 1 metra. Postaje su bile pod različitim antropogenim utjecajima kao što su kanalizacijski ispusti, brodogradilište te tvornica cementa. Referentna postaja nalazila se izvan zaljeva. Na svakoj postaji sakupljeno je pet replikata s površine 20 cm x 20 cm. Ukupno je sakupljeno 2211 jedinki mnogočetinaša, od čega su bile 663 jedinke iz porodice Syllidae. Iz ove je porodice određeno 25 vrsta. Ove vrste su poznate po iznimnoj osjetljivosti na antropogene utjecaje, pa je u području istraživanja s obzirom na različite antropogene pritiske analizirana prostorna rasprostranjenost i broj vrsta. Dobiveni rezultati (prostorna rasprostranjenost i broj vrsta porodice Syllidae) pokazali su se kao dobar indikator stanja okoliša u Kaštelanskom zaljevu. Broj vrsta i broj jedinki iz porodice Syllidae značajno je smanjen u područjima pod antropogenim utjecajem, u blizini brodogradilišta, tvornica ili naselja.

Bentoska flora područja otoka Jabuke (srednji Jadran) rijetko je istraživana. Usprkos tome, uzimajući u obzir sastav, veliki broj svojti i veliku biomasu, poznata je po svojoj jedinstvenosti. Tijekom pedesetih godina 20. stoljeća, dredžanjem je na širem području Jabuke utvrđeno 268, prvenstveno duboko- morskih, svojti makroalgi. Naša istraživanja makrobentonske flore provedena su u rujnu 2016. i svibnju 2017. godine. Uzorci su sakupljeni autonomnim ronjenjem na dubinskim transektima jugozapadnog dijela otoka i pličine Jabuke, a protezali su se u smjeru SI - JZ do dubine od 35 m. Iz uzoraka sakupljenih u jesen odredili smo 240 svojti od kojih 202 uz otok Jabuku i 171 na pličini. Na pličini biomasom prevladavaju svojte rodova Cystoseira (četiri svojte) i Sargassum (dvije vrste), a iste nisu zabilježene uz otok Jabuku. Njihovo odsustvo pripisujemo utjecaju ribe salpe (Sarpa salpa) i ježincima koji uzrokuju potpuni golobrst između 1 i 10 m dubine. Od stranih vrsta zabilježene su Caulerpa cylindracea, tetrasporofit vrste Asparagopsis armata i Womersleyella setacea, koja je prevladavajuća epifitska vrsta u uzorcima sakupljenim na dubinama većim od 10 m. Ovo istraživanje, zajedno s povijesnim podacima, bi moglo biti osnova za vrednovanje područja kao jedinstvenog hot-spot mjesta biološke raznolikosti makroalgi u Jadranskom moru. Ekološka mreža Natura 2000 uključuje samo podmorje otoka Jabuke dok pličina nije uvrštena ni u jednu kategoriju zaštite.

Family: Molpadiidae Molpadia musculus Risso, 1826

Family: Sclerodactylidae Pseudothyone raphanus (D��ben & Koren, 1846) Pseudothyone sculponea Cherbonnier, 1958, Published as part of Despalatovi��, Marija, Cvitkovi��, Ivan & ��uljevi��, Ante, 2017, Checklist of the echinoderm fauna of the Adriatic Sea, pp. 101-116 in Zootaxa 4353 (1) on page 109, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1064560

Family: Brissidae Brissopsis atlantica mediterranea Mortensen, 1913 Brissopsis lyrifera (Forbes, 1841) Brissus unicolor (Leske, 1778), Published as part of Despalatovi��, Marija, Cvitkovi��, Ivan & ��uljevi��, Ante, 2017, Checklist of the echinoderm fauna of the Adriatic Sea, pp. 101-116 in Zootaxa 4353 (1) on page 107, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1064560

Family: Ophiomyxidae Ophiomyxa pentagona (Lamarck, 1816)

Family: Arbaciidae Arbacia lixula (Linnaeus, 1758) Arbaciella elegans Mortensen, 1910, Published as part of Despalatovi��, Marija, Cvitkovi��, Ivan & ��uljevi��, Ante, 2017, Checklist of the echinoderm fauna of the Adriatic Sea, pp. 101-116 in Zootaxa 4353 (1) on page 106, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1064560

Family: Gorgonocephalidae Astrospartus mediterraneus (Risso, 1826), Published as part of Despalatovi��, Marija, Cvitkovi��, Ivan & ��uljevi��, Ante, 2017, Checklist of the echinoderm fauna of the Adriatic Sea, pp. 101-116 in Zootaxa 4353 (1) on page 105, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1064560

Family: Amphilepididae Amphilepis norvegica (Ljungman, 1865), Published as part of Despalatovi��, Marija, Cvitkovi��, Ivan & ��uljevi��, Ante, 2017, Checklist of the echinoderm fauna of the Adriatic Sea, pp. 101-116 in Zootaxa 4353 (1) on page 105, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4353.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1064560