Rafina Megalo Rema River!
May 25th 2024
We celebrated World Fish Migration Day!
This was the sixth edition of the WFMD and this year there were 312 events in 77 countries!
We set up two "Wild Aquarium" displays after sampling the river at Rafina for the celebration. Four of us contributed as volunteers from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, many others helped to make this possible.
We focused on the threatened river estuary of the Rafina Megalo Rema River- threatened by a mega flood-control project, located just 25 km east of Athens.
Informing the teachers associated with the Environmental Education Centers of the Greek Education System, we were happy to recieve more than 50 visitors on-site.
What we saw and caught:
- European Eels Anguilla anguilla (Χελι): 25 individuals, of all ages, including very small ones about 12 cm - up to 60 cm.
- Grey Mullet Chelon labrosus (Χειλάς): 20+ individuals.
- Grey Mullet Mugil cephalus (Κέφαλος): 2 individuals captured.
- Grey Mullet Liza sp./Chelon sp. (Κεφαλοπουλα): 500+
- River Blenny Salariopsis fluviatilis (Ποταμοσαλιαρα): 1 individual (not captured, adult male, dark and large 12 cm TL).
HCMR is happy to contribute. I want to thank Giannis Kapakos, Ioannis Leris, and Manos Sperelakis from HCMR. The many volunteers, including Dimitris Theodosopoulos and Athina during the electrofishing sampling. For their wonderful photography: Ioannis Leris, Antonis Lazaris and Dimitris Theodoropoulos (who also produced a video).
See Dimitris's video at his excellent site https://www.youtube.com/@geomythiki:
Wonderful day!
