The University of Cadiz has managed to increase the knowledge of the fauna and flora of the Bay of Cadiz Natural Park and its seabed, thanks to the completion of the project ‘La Caleta (Cadiz) and associated rocky intertidals: a permanent window to the knowledge of marine biodiversity (BIOCALETA)’.

The University of Cadiz has completed the project ‘La Caleta (Cadiz) and associated rocky intertidals: a permanent window to the knowledge of marine biodiversity (BIOCALETA)’. This initiative has had the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition within the framework of its 2017 call for grants.

The objective of this project has been to improve the knowledge of the faunal and floristic biodiversity of the rocky intertidal areas of the Natura 2000 network of the Bay of Cadiz and its seabed.

Through its execution, the presence of 94 species of macroalgae has been detected, 41 of them new in the Caleta, one of them new for the Andalusian marine flora and 4 new for the Cadiz coast.

Regarding the fauna, the presence of 318 species of animals has been detected, 281 of them had not been previously mentioned in La Caleta. Of these, 3 are new for the Iberian fauna, 10 are new for the Andalusian fauna and 5 are new for the marine fauna of the Cadiz coast. In addition, 11 other species of animals have been found that are new to science.

The first map of supralittoral and intertidal habitats of La Caleta has been produced, based on the Spanish Inventory of Marine Habitats. In addition, a virtual guide to the fauna and flora of the area has been created through the implementation of the “Biocaleta Project” on the Natusfera platform, which has 250 photographs of animals and algae from La Caleta; The number of photographs is expected to increase. For environmental dissemination, educational material has been prepared with 50 files of animals and algae of the Caleta and associated intertidal rocks. They have also created an explanatory video of the project posted on the University of Cadiz’s YouTube account, which shows the objectives and the most important results of the project.

The entity has also carried out days with volunteers to raise awareness about the state of the sea cucumber populations of the intertidal rocks of La Caleta, hoping that they will serve as a starting point for follow-ups in the future and assess the real impact of the illegal capture of these animals.