Photographic catalogue of the invertebrate megafauna identified in the video footage recorded on the continental shelf and submarine canyon off Cap de Creus (NW Mediterranean) as part of the Life+ Indemares project

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Abstract

Background. The Life+ Indemares project (www.indemares.es) aimed to better understand the natural and socioeconomic values of several marine areas along the territorial waters of the Spanish State, leading to an informed decision-making process for the designation of new protected areas for the marine environment. One of the 10 areas selected corresponded to the "South-West Gulf of Lions Canyon System" (https://eunis.eea.europa.eu/sites/ESZZ16001), located in the north-eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. It includes the submarine canyons of Cap de Creus and Lacaze-Duthiers and their adjacent continental shelf. The Marine Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation Research Group from the Institute of Marine Sciences of Barcelona (ICM-CSIC) produced a detailed evaluation of the physical and ecological characteristics of the seabed and water column habitats, providing the necessary scientific information for its proposal as a Site of Community Importance to the European Union. Faunistic catalogue. An ecosystem-based approach to the management of Cap de Creus marine area after protection measures are put in place requires a comprehensive knowledge of its benthic ecosystem, which includes the continental shelf and submarine canyon. The methodology employed to identify and characterize its main benthic communities down to 400 m depth was based on images collected through underwater video platforms, such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and manned submersibles. The involvement of taxonomists allowed for the identification of most of the organisms observed in the images down to species or genus level, a task that could only be achieved due to the high-quality footage recorded and the set of biological samples collected. This detailed work led to the development of a photographic catalogue that served as basis for the set of ecological studies developed subsequently. Acknowledging that the identification of benthic species from imagery still has its caveats, we felt that this faunistic inventory should be made ...