Imperial needlefish below the coast in the Punta Campanella protected area

Close encounter in the sea of ​​Punta Campanella: sighted and filmed two imperial needlefish near the coast in the locality of Le Mortelle, in Massa Lubrense, zone B of the protected marine area and site of the park's sustainable mooring field. The two specimens, about one and a half meters long, swam near the Amp Punta Campanella boat, engaged in monitoring actions.

Imperial needlefish below the coast in the Punta Campanella protected area

Similar to Marlin, the fish made famous by Ernest Hemingway in "The Old Man and the Sea", belong to the same family, Istiophoridae, which includes 11 species of large pelagics. Imperial Aguglia is an endemic fish from the Mediterranean Sea where it is most present in the central region. A singular case, given that in general the endemic fish of the Mare nostrum are small coastal and benthic species and not large pelagic animals, such as the imperial needlefish. It has always been well known and present in the sea around the Strait of Messina, while it was much less common in other Italian seas. For some years, however, it has expanded its range to the north, following the phenomenon of southernization of the Mediterranean Sea, most likely due to global warming of the seas.

His way of life is typically pelagic. It lives offshore, in open waters with no relation to the bottom and is found only occasionally near the coast. As in Punta Campanella on the day of Liberation during the loockdown period.

 (martino.iannone@ansa.it)