Molecular biomarkers are valuable tools universally used for early warning monitoring due to their ability to detect stress at subcellular scales, even before visible or lethal changes occur in organisms. Their use is considered a priority, especially for those organisms that will be most affected by the global changes underway, such as sessile benthic organisms in shallow waters. Among them, reef-forming species play a vital...

In the Mediterranean Sea, the blackbellied angler, Lophius budegassa Spinola, 1807, represents a relevant fraction of the commercial by-catch of bottom trawling and small-scale fisheries that use passive gears (e.g., set nets, bottom longlines, etc.). Despite its importance, there are no comprehensive studies on the population dynamics of this species, and there is still scarce and scattered knowledge of its biology and ecolog...