Short video (0:52) showing some of the species encountered on an active Spicara smaris breeding colony (France, Corsica, site: Taverne, coordinates 42°14.715 N 9°35.279 E). This completes the article "Huge picarel breeding colonies with male nest guarders discovered in the Mediterranean" (Deter et al., submitted; Current Biology).
Besides picarels, the divers observed species rarely seen together in such abundance and diversity: cephalopods (Octopus vulgaris, Loligo spp, Sepia officinalis), and predator fishes (Zeus faber, Lophius piscatorius, Trachinus draco, Scyliorhinus canicula) including IUCN red listed chondrichthyans Raja clavata (minor preoccupation), Dasyatis sp., Torpedo marmorata (vulnerable), Torpedo torpedo (vulnerable). They were hunting picarels and/or feeding on their eggs.
Funding
We are grateful to the ANGE project led by the University of Montpellier (UMR Marbec) in partnership with Andromède océanologie and Bastia Offshore Fishing and funded by Agence de l’Eau Rhône Méditerranée Corse (financial aid agreement N° 2021 0478) and Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB) – Parc Naturel Marin du Cap Corse et de l’Agriate (R&D contract N° OFB-21-0214) which made this discovery possible. Sonar in 2022 was possible thanks to the projects Spicara Circus (financial aid agreement N° 20220392) and Spicarena (R&D contract N° 2022-0426) led by Andromède océanologie and respectively funded by Agence de l’Eau Rhône Méditerranée Corse and Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB) – Parc Naturel Marin du Cap Corse et de l’Agriate. These projects were part of Gombessa expeditions led by Andromède Océanologie and supported by Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Suisse Blancpain and Blancpain Ocean Commitment, the Prince Albert II de Monaco Foundation, the Société des explorations de Monaco, Office Français de la Biodiversité, and Agence de l’eau Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse (French Water Agency) with the help of ARTE, Les Gens Bien Production, CNC, Ushuaïa TV, AP diving, Aqualung, Nikon, Molecular, Seacam, Yamaha, Paralenz, Bigblue, Neotek, Seaowl, Marlink, Subspace pictures, Suex and Francqueville without whom these expeditions would not have been possible. The funders played no role in the content of this manuscript.
We thank the team of Parc Naturel Marin du Cap Corse et de l’Agriate for them help and Jean-Georges Harmelin who agreed to share his bibliography concerning the observed Spicara species nests. Many thanks to Sebastien Personnic, Thomas Pavy, Guillaume Barbotin, Jordi Chias, Yanick Gentil, Nacim Guellati and Roberto Rinaldi for their help during the field work
