As part of the INDEMARES “Inventory and designation of the Natura 2000
network in marine areas of the Spanish state” project, a LIFE+ project aimed at
documenting by identifying areas of value to the Natura 2000 network in Spanish
offshore areas, research was carried out around the Alboran Island with R/V “Isla de
Alborán” in 2011 and 2012 and around Seco de los Olivos by OCEANA on board
their catamaran “OCEANA Ranger”. Results were summarized in two
INDEMARES monographs (Gofas et al. 2014a; De la Torriente et al. 2014) and
further elaborated by de la Torriente et al. (2018). OCEANA also explored other
parts of the Alboran Sea using ROV-mediated imaging, in places such as Banc des
Cabliers, the Djibouti Banks (El Algarrobo/Avempace) and Banco Sabinar (Avenzoar) (Pardo et al. 2011). The images obtained during those cruises have notably
contributed to our understanding of the in situ composition and aspect of benthic
communities on these bottoms.
9.1.2 Shore-Based Studies
Data on the coastal biodiversity of the Alboran Sea started to be collected when the
Biological-Marine Station of Málaga, now a centre of Instituto Español de
Oceanografía, was created in 1911 by Odón de Buen, but his work and that of his
sons Fernando and Rafael were mainly focused on the ichtyofauna (O. de Buen
1912; F. de Buen 1926). With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, de Buen was on
the losing side and was exiled; any progress was hardly made during the following
decades.
The spectacular renaissance of taxonomy and natural history in Spain in the last
decades of the twentieth century featured, among others, the beginning of significant
shore-based studies in the Alboran Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar. Early work
includes several doctoral theses on some taxonomic groups in an area which was
then very poorly known: J. Enrique García Raso on decapods (1981), Carmen Salas
Casanova on bivalves (1984), José Carlos García Gómez on opisthobranch molluscs
(1984), Ángel A. Luque del Villar on shelled gastropods (1984) and Manuel
Maldonado Barahona (1993) on sponges.
Starting in 1982, a group of researchers from the universities Autónoma de
Madrid and Barcelona and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales of Madrid
studied the marine gastropods of the Almería coast, publishing a first inventory in
1986 (Ballesteros et al. 1986). In 1983, the University of Málaga (UMA) explored
the Alboran Island, resulting in a general description of the marine habitats and biota
(García Raso and Salas 1984) and lists of decapod crustaceans (García Raso 1984)
and marine molluscs (Salas and Luque 1986).
Further research involving the universities of Málaga and Autónoma de Madrid
and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales studied between 1985 and 1990 the
marine biota around Cabo de Gata with institutional funding from the Consejería de
Medio Ambiente of the Andalusian government. These projects led to the declaration of the “Parque Natural Cabo de Gata-Níjar” in January 1988, to the first
9 Benthic Fauna of Littoral and Deep-Sea Habitats of the Alboran Sea: A. . .
289
network in marine areas of the Spanish state” project, a LIFE+ project aimed at
documenting by identifying areas of value to the Natura 2000 network in Spanish
offshore areas, research was carried out around the Alboran Island with R/V “Isla de
Alborán” in 2011 and 2012 and around Seco de los Olivos by OCEANA on board
their catamaran “OCEANA Ranger”. Results were summarized in two
INDEMARES monographs (Gofas et al. 2014a; De la Torriente et al. 2014) and
further elaborated by de la Torriente et al. (2018). OCEANA also explored other
parts of the Alboran Sea using ROV-mediated imaging, in places such as Banc des
Cabliers, the Djibouti Banks (El Algarrobo/Avempace) and Banco Sabinar (Avenzoar) (Pardo et al. 2011). The images obtained during those cruises have notably
contributed to our understanding of the in situ composition and aspect of benthic
communities on these bottoms.
9.1.2 Shore-Based Studies
Data on the coastal biodiversity of the Alboran Sea started to be collected when the
Biological-Marine Station of Málaga, now a centre of Instituto Español de
Oceanografía, was created in 1911 by Odón de Buen, but his work and that of his
sons Fernando and Rafael were mainly focused on the ichtyofauna (O. de Buen
1912; F. de Buen 1926). With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, de Buen was on
the losing side and was exiled; any progress was hardly made during the following
decades.
The spectacular renaissance of taxonomy and natural history in Spain in the last
decades of the twentieth century featured, among others, the beginning of significant
shore-based studies in the Alboran Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar. Early work
includes several doctoral theses on some taxonomic groups in an area which was
then very poorly known: J. Enrique García Raso on decapods (1981), Carmen Salas
Casanova on bivalves (1984), José Carlos García Gómez on opisthobranch molluscs
(1984), Ángel A. Luque del Villar on shelled gastropods (1984) and Manuel
Maldonado Barahona (1993) on sponges.
Starting in 1982, a group of researchers from the universities Autónoma de
Madrid and Barcelona and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales of Madrid
studied the marine gastropods of the Almería coast, publishing a first inventory in
1986 (Ballesteros et al. 1986). In 1983, the University of Málaga (UMA) explored
the Alboran Island, resulting in a general description of the marine habitats and biota
(García Raso and Salas 1984) and lists of decapod crustaceans (García Raso 1984)
and marine molluscs (Salas and Luque 1986).
Further research involving the universities of Málaga and Autónoma de Madrid
and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales studied between 1985 and 1990 the
marine biota around Cabo de Gata with institutional funding from the Consejería de
Medio Ambiente of the Andalusian government. These projects led to the declaration of the “Parque Natural Cabo de Gata-Níjar” in January 1988, to the first
9 Benthic Fauna of Littoral and Deep-Sea Habitats of the Alboran Sea: A. . .
289