Updating of the Greek National Chondrichthyans Checklist

After 2 years of systematic work in collaboration with the Shark Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), colleagues from all over Greece and experts from abroad, the updated national checklist of sharks, batoids and chimeras that occur in the Greek seas is published in the MDPI scientific journal.

According to the results, the occurance of 34 species of sharks, 26 species of batoids and 1 species of chimera was confirmed, while 6 species were categorized as “Unconfirmed” and further research is needed to confirm their occurance in the Greek seas.

It is important to emphasize that, a large percentage of species found in Greece are assessed  as “Threatened” at a Mediterranean level by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, however, there they are not assessed according to the Greek Red Book.

We believe that the updated Greek National Chondrichthyans Checklist can be the first step for the update of the Greek Red Book, a very important tool for a more effective protection of sharks, batoids and chimeras in the Greek seas.

This project “Updating the Greek National Chondrichthyans Checklist” was funded under the financial programme of the Green Fund “Natural environment & innovative environmental actions 2020” by the priority axis “Actions to Conserve Biodiversity”.

Find the scientific publication here.

Find the Greek National checklist of sharks, batoids and chimeras here.