######################################################################## ClimateFish: A database to track the abundance of selected coastal fish species as candidate indicators of climate change ######################################################################## Title of the dataset: "ClimateFish: A database to track the abundance of selected coastal fish species as candidate indicators of climate change" Authors: Ernesto Azzurro (National Research Council, Institute of Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnologies - CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy; SZN Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy), Tosca Ballerini (National Research Council, Institute of Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnologies - CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy; SZN Anton Dohrn, Fano, Italy), Chryssanthi Antoniadou (School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece), Giulia Domizia Aversa (Università la Sapienza di Roma, Roma, Italy), Jamila Ben Souissi (National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Tunisia), Andrea Blašković (Brijuni National Park, Brijuni, Pula, Croatia), Valentina Cappanera (Portofino Marine Protected Area - Consortium of Management, Portofino, Italy), Marina Chiappi (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; AP Marine Environmental Consultancy Ltd, Aglantzia, Nicosia, Cyprus), Maria-Francesca Cinti (Tavolara Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Protected Area, Tavolara, Olbia, Sassari, Italy), Francesco Colloca (SZN Anton Dohrn, Palermo, Italy), Ivan Cvitkovic (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Manuela D’Amen (National Research Council, Institute of Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnologies - CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy; SZN Anton Dohrn, Fano, Italy), Marija Despalatović (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Antonio Di Franco (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Sicily Marine Center, Palermo, Italy), Charalampos Dimitriadis (National Marine Park of Zakynthos, El.Venizelou, Zakynthos Island, Greece), Branko Dragičević (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Emanuela Fanelli (Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy), Tomaso Fortibuoni (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Ozzano dell'Emilia, Italy), Giulio Franzitta (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, RIMAR Dept., Naples, Italy), Chiara Gambardella (Institute for the Study of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment, National Research Council, Genova 16149, Italy), Joaquim Garrabou (Institut de Ciències del Mar–Consell Superior d'Investigacions Científiques,Barcelona, Spain), Tatiana Geloso (Mare Nostrum Diving, Palermo, Italy), Raouia Ghanem (Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Climate Change Laboratory-LR11ES09, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia), Andrea Gori(Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain),Martina Hervat (Brijuni National Park, Brijuni, Pula, Croatia), Andres Izquierdo-Muñoz (Departamento de Ciencias del Mar y Biologia Aplicada, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain), Gabriele La Mesa (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Roma, Italy), Cristina Linares Prat (Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain),Lorenzo Merotto (Portofino Marine Protected Area, Portofino, Italy), Reno Micaleff (University of Malta, UOM, Msida, Malta), Anastasia Miliou (Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, P.O. Box 42 Pythagorio 83103 Samos), Annalisa Minelli (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Roma, Italy), Paula Moschella (Mediterranean Science Commission, CIESM, Monaco), Federica Pannacciulli (Italian National Agency for New Technologies - ENEA, Marine Environment Research Centre - S. Teresa, Pozzuolo di Lerici, La Spezia, Italy), Pieraugusto Panzalis (Tavolara Tavolara Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Protected Area, Tavolara, Olbia, Sassari, Italy), Mišo Pavičić (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Alfonso A. Ramos-Esplá (Department of Marine Sciences, University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain; Marine Research Center of Santa Pola (CIMAR), University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain), Antonis Petrou (Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus), Alfonso A. Ramos-Esplá (Department of Marine Sciences, University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain; Marine Research Center of Santa Pola (CIMAR), University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, Spain) Luca Saponari Nature Seychelles, The Centre for Environment and Education, Roche Caiman, Mahe, Republic of Seychelles), Giuseppe Scarcella (National Research Council, Institute of Biological Resources and Marine Biotechnologies - CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy), Marco Spoto (Italian National Research Council, CNR-IRBIM, Palermo, Italy), Nika Stagličić (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Dario Vrdoljak (Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia), Boris Weitzmann (Parc Natural del Montgrí, illes Medes i Baix Ter. Estartit, Spain), Patrik Joseph Schembri (University of Malta, Msida, Malta). Abstract: The ClimateFish database collates abundance data of 15 fish species proposed as candidate indicators of climate change in the Mediterranean Sea. An initial group of 8 Mediterranean indigenous species (Epinephelus marginatus, Thalassoma pavo, Sparisoma cretense, Coris julis, Sarpa salpa, Serranus scriba, Serranus cabrilla and Caranx crysos) with wide distribution, responsiveness to temperature conditions and easy identification were selected by a network of Mediterranean scientists joined under the CIESM programme ‘Tropical Signals’ https://www.ciesm.org/marine/programs/tropicalization.htm (Azzurro et al. 2011). Soon after, and thanks to the discussion with other expert groups and projects, C. crysos was no longer considered, and Lessepsian fishes (Red Sea species entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal) were included, namely: Fistularia commersonii, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Pterois miles, Stephanolopis diaspros, Parupeneus forskali, Pempheris rhomboidea and Torquigener flavimaculosus. Considering the trends of increase of these species in the Mediterranean Sea (Golani et al. 2021) and their climate affinity (D’Amen, M. and Azzurro, E., 2020), more data on these tropical invaders are expected to come in the future implementation of the study. Data were collected according to a standard and simplified visual census methodology (Garrabou et al. 2019) along standard transects of 5 minutes performed at a constant speed of 10m/min, corresponding approximately to an area of 50x5m. Four different depth layers were surveyed: 0-3m, 5-10 m, 11-20 m, 21-30 m. So far, the ClimateFish database includes fish counts collected along 3142 transects carried out in 7 Mediterranean countries between 2009 and 2021, for a total number of 101'771 observed individuals belonging to the 15 fish species. Data were collected by a large team of researchers which joined to a common monitoring strategy supported by different international projects, which are acknowledged below. This database, when associated with climate data, offers new opportunities to investigate spatio-temporal effects of climate change in the Mediterranean Sea and test the effectiveness of each species as a possible climate change indicator. Contact persons: ernesto.azzurro@cnr.it Contact organization: CNR-IRBIM (Italy), info@irbim.cnr.it Dataset format: Comma Separated Value (unique file) License: CC-BY 4.0 Temporal range of observations : 2009-2021 Date of dataset creation: 2012-10-19 Date of dataset completion: 2022-03-28 Project/Program: The Mediterranean ClimateFish initiative was initially conceived by the international basin wide monitoring program CIESM Tropical Signals (funded by the Albert II of Monaco Foundation) and subsequently supported by the Interreg Med Programme (Projects: MPA Adapt, grant number 1MED15_3.2_M2_337 and MPA Engage, grant number MED18_3.2_M23_007), 85% co funded by the European Regional Development Fund.The Interreg Med project MPA Engage (grant number: 5216 | 5MED18_3.2_M23_007) partially supported this work. Processing methodology: first of all, training sessions/materials were delivered to both MPA staff and collaborating researchers; data were collected by trained people according to the same protocol and checked by the same people before submission; formatted data were then examined for error and underwent the technical validation process; data were gathered and formatted to meet Darwin Core archive standards where reports which did not meet inclusion criteria were removed; the data were manually examined again for quality assessment and to detect any remaining error. Parameters: * Record_ID: A progressive number univocally identifying each visual census transect. * Year: The four-digit year in which the visual census transect was carried out. * Month: The two-digit month in which the visual census transect was carried out. * Day: The two-digit day in which the visual census transect was carried out; "NA" if not available. * Decimal_latitude: Geographical latitude in decimal degrees of the permanent location where the visual census transect was carried out. * Decimal_longitude: Geographical longitude in decimal degrees of the permanent location where the visual census transect was carried out * Country: The ISO code of the country in which the visual census transect was carried out. * Study_area: The geographical context were the visual census transect was carried out. * Location: The permanent location were the visual census transect was carried out. * Depth: The depth range at which the visual census transect was carried out. * Replicate: A one-digit code indicating the replicate transect at each census event. * Data provider: The institution who coordinated the field data collection. * Project: The scientific project or the initiative in the frame of wich the visual census protocol was implemented. * Coris_julis: The number of individuals of Coris julis observed in the census. * Epinephelus_marginatus: The number of individuals of Epinephelus marginatus observed in the census. * Fistularia_commersonii: The number of individuals of Fistularia commersonii observed in the census. * Serranus_cabrilla: The number of individuals of Serranus cabrilla observed in the census. * Sparisoma_cretense: The number of individuals of Sparisoma cretense observed in the census. * Siganus_luridus: The number of individuals of Siganus luridus observed in the census. * Siganus_rivulatus: The number of individuals of Siganus rivulatus observed in the census. * Sarpa_salpa: The number of individuals of Sarpa salpa observed in the census. * Serranus_scriba: The number of individuals of Serranus scriba observed in the census. * Thalassoma_pavo: The number of individuals of Thalassoma pavo observed in the census. * Pterois_miles: The number of individuals of Pterois miles observed in the census. * Stephanolopis_diaspros: The number of individuals of Stephanolopis diaspros observed in the census. * Parupeneus_forskali: The number of individuals of Parupeneus forskali observed in the census. * Pempheris_rhomboidea: The number of individuals of Pempheris rhomboidea observed in the census. * Torquigener_flavimaculosus: The number of individuals of Torquigener flavimaculosus observed in the census. Number of observations: 3142 Bounding box: N,S,E,W = 46.97802, 28.25043, 39.81122, -9.74039 [decimal deg] Sea Area common name: Mediterranean Sea CRS: WGS84