Macrofauna associated with a bank of Cladocora caespitosa (Anthozoa, Scleractinia) in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic)Pitacco, Valentina (Avtor) Orlando-Bonaca, Martina (Avtor) Mavrič, Borut (Avtor) Lipej, Lovrenc (Avtor) The Mediterranean stony coral Cladocora caespitosa (Linnaeus, 1767) is a native colonial, zooxanthellate, shallow water coral, particularly sensitive to global changes and anthropogenic activities. Due to its shape and size, it is able to host a diversifi ed faunal assemblage, which is still relatively unknown. A recently discovered bank of C. caespitosa, discovered close to Cape Ronek (Gulf of Trieste, Slovenia), was investigated in November 2010. Altogether 121 invertebrate taxa, belonging to 9 different phyla were found. Taxa composition in colonies differed markedly from the surrounding areas within the bank. Only 5 taxa (4 % of the total) were found both within and without C. caespitosa colonies. Our results confi rm the role of C. caespitosa as a habitat builder and indicate the importance of the studied bank for biodiversity20142024-08-02 08:09:27Neznano20005sl