Northward range expansion of Leptogorgia dakarensis and Eunicella racemosa (Cnidaria: Gorgoniidae: Anthozoa) in the Eastern Atlantic
Abou Oualid, J.; Ait Alla, A.; Moukrim, A.; López-González, P.J. (2023). Northward range expansion of Leptogorgia dakarensis and Eunicella racemosa (Cnidaria: Gorgoniidae: Anthozoa) in the Eastern Atlantic. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K. 103: e10. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315422000972
In: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press/Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: Cambridge. ISSN 0025-3154; e-ISSN 1469-7769, more
|  |
| Keywords |
Climate change
Eunicella racemosa (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857) [WoRMS]; Leptogorgia dakarensis Stiasny, 1939 [WoRMS]
Atlantic [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Author keywords |
Eastern Atlantic; northward extent |
| Authors | | Top |
- Abou Oualid, J.
- Ait Alla, A.
- Moukrim, A.
- López-González, P.J.
|
|
|
| Abstract |
Identifying species and updating marine biodiversity is fundamental to understanding the evolution of ecosystems and adopting appropriate management strategies. These ecosystems are threatened by climate change causing species mobility, mortality, etc. An important zoological group in the marine ecosystem, octocoral gorgonians have a wide geographic and bathymetric distribution. However, the knowledge of their presence on the Atlantic West African coasts remains limited. Herein, we note the accurate geographic distribution of two species, Leptogorgia dakarensis (Stiasny, 1936) and Eunicella racemosa (Milne Edwards & Haime, 1857), reporting their northern distributional limits. The gaps in the previous knowledge hypothesis of the oceanic warming effects explaining the northward mobility of these species are discussed here. |
|
