Sampling, descriprion and preservation of the shallow-water fauna of the coastal zones of Mauritania

Since 2020, the Senckenberg Department of Marine Zoology (Frankfurt), together with the Senckenberg Department for Marine Research (Wilhelmshaven) is conducting a series of projects for monitoring the marine shallow-water biodiversity of Mauritania's coastline. The main goals are: -help with building up a local, national reference collection for Mauritania's natural history, taking the Senckenberg Marine Zoology collections as a model - to build up a public barcode library for Mauritanian marine animals - to monitor the coastline at selected areas over time in order to detect seascape chages Our partner institute in Mauritania is the local oceanographic and fisheries institute (Institut Mauritanien de Recherche Océanographique et des Pêches). Altogether, five sampling trips were conducted yearly, beginning in 2020. With the Baie de l'Étoile north of the city of Nouadhibou in a first focus, we broadened the geographical scope towards the south (Cap Blanc) from the landside. With the IMROP boat "Amrigue", we also explored the sallow waters, especially the Bellaat lagoon and a nearby field of submerged dunes with a dense gorgonian forest and associated fauna. For the future, we plan the scientific accompaniment of new research infrastructure (collection building and barcoding lab) at IMROP.