First monitoring of Cladocora caespitosa (Anthozoa, Scleractinia) in the Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro)

The scleractinian coral Cladocora caespitosa (Linnaeus 1767) is a colonial, long-lived and reefbuilding coral. It is endemic for the Mediterranean Sea, protected by national and international legislation and recently included in the IUCN Red List as an endangered species. This study reports preliminary results on the first monitoring of C. caespitosa populations on 3 locations (Verige, Sv. Nedjelja and Sv. Đorđe) in the Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro). Along 11 transects (each 50 m) in total 98 colonies were intercepted and measured (minimum and maximum diameters, and height of the colony). Great majority (71%) of measured colonies were found in the depth range from 10 to 15 m depth. Diameter of colonies was varying from 1.5 cm up to 35 cm, but colonies are generally small, 7.9 cm on average and a degree of sphericity (IS index) was 0.6. Unfortunately, many colonies were partially or completely dead and bleaching was observed on all three locations.