Benthic communities of a Thyrrenian sea coastal area (Agropoli, Salerno)

A contribution to the knowledge of the coastal benthic fauna of a Thyrrenian sea area is the aim of this work. Hard and mobile sea bed taxa, living either on an antitrawling artificial reef and in its proximity, have been identified and studied. Hard bottom fauna has been sampled by professional scuba divers, while mobile bottom fauna has been sampled using a dredge. Taxonomic identification has been carried out to the species level, only in few taxa to genus or family level. Polychaetes was the most frequent taxon, followed by Bivalve Molluscs, both on hard and mobile bottom. The Salerno anti-trawling reef allowed the reappearance of taxa that had not been recorded in this area for a very long time.