The benthic communities in the Dardanelles were investigated with scuba diving and manta-tow tech- niques between 2011 and 2013 at 200 stations with a depth between 1 and 50 m. In these studies, the scler- actinian Madracis pharensis (Heller, 1868) was collected from coralligenous and rocky habitats at five different sites at depths between 20 and 39 m. The ecological features of the colonies were examined in situ. The present paper reports the species occurrence and reveals the habitat characteristics of the species for the first time from this area. With this new record the known global distributional range of the species has been updated and the knowledge on anthozoan ecology along the Turkish coasts was enhanced.

Depth range
20- 39 m

Mesophotic “mentions”
0 x (total of 2087 words)

Classification
* Presents original data
* Focused on 'mesophotic' depth range
* Focused on 'temperate mesophotic ecosystem'

Fields
Ecology

Focusgroups
Scleractinia (Hard Corals)

Locations
Turkey - Sea of Marmara

Platforms
SCUBA (open-circuit or unspecified)