During the last days of March 2026 we have been testing Tibudron at the coast of Blanes (NW Mediterranean, Spain) in order to have everything ready for the sampling period, that will take place in Summer and early Autumn. The idea is to collect samples of three different species, namely Petrosia ficiformis, Chondrosia reniformis and Axinella damicornis, at mesophotic depths using this ROV and complement this sampling with other samples collected via SCUBA diving at shallower depths. The genomic information that we will obtain after analyzing this samples will be used to understand genomic connectivity and adaptation patterns of these three sponge species, that are commonly found in the waters of the Mediterranean.
Tibudron was acquired thorugh the project ‘SPADACON: Connectivity and adaptation patterns of Mediterranean shallow-water and mesophotic sponges for conservation purposes (PID2024-159957NB-I00), from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innvocaión y Universidades in Spain. This project is led by Sergi Taboada.
