Date mussel harvesting favours some blennioids

The consequences of date mussel Lithophaga lithophaga harvesting (DMH) on blennioid assemblages was evaluated at Capo Noli‐Bergeggi (Savona, north‐western Mediterranean Sea) in summer 2005, under the hypothesis that holes bored by L. lithophaga, and left empty by the collection of the bivalve, may represent refuges for these cryptobenthic fishes. Blenniidae and Tripterygiidae were identified to species, and their individuals counted together with the number of empty L. lithophaga holes. The results were compared between ‘impact’ sites affected by the destructive DMH and control sites using two‐way ANOVA, and showed that extensive removal of the boring mussels, dramatically increasing the availability of empty holes, favours total number of observed blennioid species and especially Parablennius zvonimiri abundance.