Hydrological patterns and spatial distribution of deep water rose shrimp in the Strait of Sicily (Central Mediterranean)

The deep water Rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris, Lucas 1846) is the main target of trawling fisheries in the Strait of Sicily, amounting to about 60% of the shrimp yield of the whole Mediterranean. The Strait of Sicily is known to be characterized by mesoscale oceanographic features, such as upwelling regions, fronts, vortices and filaments, which affect biological processes. In this study, rose shrimp abundance data in the Strait of Sicily are analyzed together with remotely sensed sea surface temperature and ocean color surface parameters (chlorophyll, diffuse light attenuation coefficient, particulate and CDOM absorption and scattering coefficients), to explore environmental factors that are expected to condition patterns of this species' distribution, in space and time. Preliminary results show that individuals tend to be found in correspondence of colder and biologically richer surface waters, even though P. longirostris is a bottom-dwelling species. Further investigation on ecological processes in the water column, connecting the surface to the bottom, are therefore necessary to explain the correspondence between rose shrimp and surface hydrological parameter distributions.