Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Zoology in the Middle East, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Long-term monitoring of marine organisms remains scarce in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean basin, resulting in limited knowledge of temporal variation in batoid diversity and population characteristics. To address this gap, seasonal sampling was conducted using a commercial trawling vessel at 10 m and 20 m between the years 2012–2024. Over this 13-year period, a total of 1226 individuals belonging to 10 batoid species were examined. Dasyatis pastinaca (37%) and Gymnura altavela (30%) were the dominant species while Torpedo nobiliana was represented with only 8 (0.7%) individuals. Overall, approximately two thirds of all male and female individuals were captured at 10 m and 20 m, whereas species of the family Myliobatidae were more frequently recorded at 20 m. In general, species diversity did not differ consistently between the two depth contours, as species absent from one depth in a given year could be recorded at the other depth or in subsequent years. These findings provide one of the few long-term accounts of batoid assemblages in the eastern Mediterranean and offer new baseline information on the diversity and population characteristics of batoids in Iskenderun Bay, a coastal system undergoing continuous environmental change.