HEN Oceanologicäl and HyArobiolodicäl Studie

sciende

115 A 9x

20 Oceanograph" a

Volume 51, No. 2, June 2027
pages (143-14£

VW -irobiology

ISSN 1730-413X
ASSN 1897-3197

First record of the common sun star Crossaster papposus (L., 1767) in
the Baltic Sea in over 100 years

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Katharina Romoth'*, Mayya Gogina',
Kolja Beisiegel*, Alexander Darr®,
Michael Lothar Zettler'!

BAT zi
Category: Short communicatıoh
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A EM 5027

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Abstract
The rare in the German North and Baltic Sea waters and
strictly protected sea star Crossaster papposus was found
in 2019 and 2021 during monitoring activities in a marine
protected area. This unique observation was achieved by
using towed camera platform imagery along a transect
in the Fehmarn Belt, which allows monitoring of a much
larger area of the seafloor compared to traditional invasive
grab and dredge sampling. The last time C. papposus was
documented in this area was in 1871, indicating the rarity of
this species in the Baltic Sea. Possible explanations for such
rare records of the occurrence of this presumably native
species in the study region are briefly discussed, including
uncommon survival due to salinity conditions caused by
prior inflows of saline water from the North Sea.

"Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research,
Seestrasse 15, D-18119 Rostock, Germany
’BLANO Marine Protection Office,
Rothenburgsorter Marktplatz 1, 20539
Hamburg, Germany
‘Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency
BSH), Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 78, 20359
Hamburg, Germany

Key words: Crossaster papposus, Fehmarn Belt,
ogrotected species, monitoring data, underwater
imaging approach

* Corresponding author: katharina.romoth@io-warnemuende.de

online at www.oandhs.ug.edu.pl

27022 Katharina Romoth et al. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-\\asCammerrial-NaoDaerivs
 '!icense(httni//creativerammare arr /!lirancac/hv-nr-nd/4a 6