Diel Variations in Demersal Fish Assemblages in the Strait of Sicily, September 2017

A six-day trawl survey in September 2017 examined day-night variations in demersal fish catches on the shelf-break off southwestern Sicily. The dataset likely contains catch data for species like Illex coindetii, Merluccius merluccius, and Parapenaeus longirostris, analyzed to identify distinct nocturnal and diurnal assemblages. Giacomo Sardo authored this dataset, which was last updated on 2026-05-29.

Use Cases

• Modeling diel catch patterns for commercial species like Parapenaeus longirostris and Trachurus trachurus based on the described CPUE variations.
• Analyzing community structure shifts between day and night based on described metrics like species richness, dominance, and diversity.
• Informing fisheries management policies by assessing temporal catch variations to minimize unwanted bycatch, as suggested in the description.

Strengths

• Data collection is temporally focused, with seven hauls per day distributed between full daylight and complete darkness over six days.
• Analysis includes specific ecological metrics (species richness, dominance, evenness, diversity) and statistical methods (ANOSIM, PERMANOVA).
• Identifies key commercial species with distinct diel patterns, such as Trachurus trachurus peaking at midday.

Limitations

• The dataset is very small at 20.7 KB, indicating limited scope and likely a small number of observations.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

Giacomo Sardo via figshare.

Collection Method

Data gathered via a six-day trawl survey on the shelf-break (125–155 m depth).

Time Range

September 2017.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-29 04:45:19; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Strait of Sicily, central Mediterranean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Sicily.