Description
The Le Ratteghe area is characterized by a rocky seabed covered with leafy algae, rich in hermit crabs, limpets, and sea urchins, home to various fish species such as damselfish, blennies, comber fish, and red mullet. Below 3 meters of depth, the first tufts of Posidonia oceanica can be seen; these provide shelter for sponges, starfish, mollusks, and cnidarians, and are home to salemas, damselfish, white bream, and saddled saddled bream.
The Le Ratteghe Marine Park is characterized by a high biodiversity in terms of flora and fauna, with extremely valuable species protected by international regulations, such as Posidonia oceanica, a marine plant found only in the Mediterranean. Posidonia oceanica meadows form submerged meadows that play important ecological roles, including:
- produce oxygen: 1m2 of meadow produces 14 litres of oxygen per day
- provide a breeding area for fish and marine invertebrates
- host a quarter of the Mediterranean's marine species
- provide food and shelter for many species
How to live the ratteghe
The Le Ratteghe marine area extends 400 m long and 50 m wide and is marked by permanent buoys. This is a natural area of extreme importance and beauty; it must be cared for and the animals that inhabit it must be respected, avoiding littering the sea.
The area is permanently closed to fishing, anchoring, and navigation and is entirely dedicated to bathing and recreational sports activities such as swimming, snorkeling, guided snorkeling, freediving, and scuba diving.
Did you know that...
- Unlike the females, which are not very colorful, the male damsel fish have green, gray and orange bands along their body with different reflections that make them very colorful.
- Hermit crabs are crustaceans, although they shelter their abdomen inside the empty shells of gastropod molluscs.
- Can some starfish have more than five arms? And that they can regenerate them when damaged? And that they are close relatives of sea urchins? The world of starfish is waiting to be discovered.
- The common or banded seabream is recognisable by the two wide and clearly visible black bands, one just before the head and the other at the beginning of the tail.
- The female sea urchin is called this to distinguish it from the "male." In reality, they are two different species; the so-called female lays very colorful and edible eggs. Its fishing is regulated by ministerial decree.
- The juvenile damselfish (less than 15 mm in size) is cobalt blue in colour, while the adults are brown or blackish with longitudinal rows of lighter spots on the sides.
- Posidonia is a plant and not an algae, it produces oxygen, reduces wave motion and hosts hundreds of species providing them with shelter and food.
Connected places
Access mode
Pedestrian area.
Address
Contact points
Last update: 25 March 2026, 08:21