Oceana has provided the first data in relation to two seamounts in the Ibiza Channel, which the organisation’s staff have named Nao Mound and Morrot de Formentera.

The project, developed in collaboration with the Biodiversity Foundation, has made it possible to disseminate information on two little-known mountains, including the documentation obtained in the Spanish Inventory of Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. With these data, information on the biological diversity of the two elevations is released, and over the next few months the images obtained by Oceana will continue to be analysed, the first of the seabed thanks to an underwater robot that has recorded more than 9 hours and up to more than 600 metres. Specifically, it has been known that the Nao Mound mountain, located at an altitude of more than 400 meters, has the presence of decapods (langoustines, lobsters, shrimps…), as well as gorgonian gardens. A wide variety of commercially interesting fish have been observed on the second mountain, as well as coral reefs in the deepest area of the elevation. In addition, species such as the newt conch shell, which is part of the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species, and which will require protection and preservation measures have been observed.

The information is available in digital version, thanks to a Geographic Information System that allows navigation on elevations, as well as knowing the main habitats and species.