RESOURCE USE BY A MEDITERRANEAN ROCKY SLOPE FISH ASSEMBLAGE

Resource partitioning has been intensely studied in fish assemblages o f tropical reefs, whereas surprisingly little research has been conduc ted on the benthic Mediterranean. Here we describe the composition of a fish assemblage of the rocky slopes at Tremiti Islands, southern Adr iatic Sea, the vertical distribution at depths from 0 to 42 m, habitat choice and food use of the different species, and we identify the res ources along which species are ecologically segregated. Species compos ition and fish density showed high similarities with the few other ass emblages that have been censused on the rocky coasts of the Mediterran ean. We observed a wide overdispersion among species in their use of f ood and habitat, while very little segregation occurred at the level o f depth distribution. No coincident use of food, habitat or active per iods occurred among fish species, and no trophic guilds exist in the t hree-dimensional niche.