Report | July 21, 2017

Riqueza de los fondos infra- y circa-litorales de Jaizkibel

The submarine areas associated to the Jaizkibel mountain show a high diversity of habitats and species. With the aim of contributing to this knowledge, the OCEANA association carried out several immersions from 2008 to 2010. In this work we detail the results of such immersions. Overall, we identified more than 300 species (all of which had been previously described for the area) and provided new data about the habitats and communities of the area, including ten species and habitats included within international lists of endangered species and habitats. Together with the already existing literature, our data show that the area is very rich in species and habitats. The videos carried out during the immersions show a high variety of both rocky and detrital bottoms. Currently, we identify ca. 50% out of the 100 habitats included within the National Inventory list of the habitats existing through the infra- and circa-littoral Atlantic-Cantabric region. Moreover, we also identified submarine areas rich in “paramoudras” and singular geologic forms until now only reported for the terrestrial part of Jaizkibel.