Marine caves are biodiversity reservoirs and refuge habitats, harbouring rare species and
living fossils. The Mediterranean Sea hosts more than 3000 caves, which are among the …

Subterranean ecosystems are among the most widespread environments on Earth, yet we
still have poor knowledge of their biodiversity. To raise awareness of subterranean …

Marine caves are protected habitats with high biodiversity and low ecological resilience,
vulnerable to multiple pressures including biological invasions. Therefore, comprehensive …

Metazoan/microbial bioconstructions, or biostalactites (BSTs), discovered in submarine
caves of Apulia c. 20 years ago—and later found in several shallow‐water Mediterranean …

The dark and confined conditions of submarine caves allow the development of cryptic
bioconstructions. They have been named “biostalactites” due to their distinctive growth from …

Fishes in marine caves have attracted limited attention by the scientific community in
comparison to subterranean fishes which have lost eyes and pigmentation. They constitute a …

Data on the distribution and ecology of cryptobenthic fish of marine caves in the
Mediterranean Sea are extremely scarce but necessary for scientists and marine managers …

Brachiopods exhibit a particular preference for cryptic habitats such as submarine caves.
However, their assemblages have rarely been investigated quantitatively in this habitat. In …

The coralligenous build-ups located in Mediterranean shelf in front of Marzamemi (SE–
Sicily, Italy) represent useful natural examples to study the relationship between skeletal …

Marine caves are abundant throughout the Mediterranean Sea, but most studies have
focused on those occurring in its western part so far. However, the few studies covering the …