A rare specimen of monk seal would have been spotted in recent days and reported by a local fisherman in the waters of the island of Capraia (Livorno), where the species has disappeared for decades. The facebook page of Visit Capraia, the official site for the tourism promotion of the Island of Capraia, managed by the Municipality and the Proloco.
«A local fisherman seems to have no doubts - reads the post -: last Sunday, near the east coast, he spotted a back emerging from the sea without the classic cetacean fin. In short, it really looked like a monk seal who disappeared from Capraia in the 60s ». The monk seal is a protected species in the Mediterranean, where now there are only a few hundred specimens.
«The fisherman is very reliable and is a very expert connoisseur of marine life - he confirmed Fabio Guidi, chief editor of Visit Capraia - so it's hard to be wrong. The sighting dates back to May 24 between the Scoglione and Cala del Turco, in the south-eastern coast of the island. The fisherman reported seeing the back of an animal that looked like a bottlenose dolphin, but without a fin. A specimen of about three meters in length, which vented diagonally, therefore not like a dolphin, and precisely according to the direction of a seal's nostrils. After the sighting, Ispra immediately called me to get in touch with him and also with the Park Authority ».
That Capraia could be a "probable" sighting of a monk seal is also convinced of this Fabrizio Serena, biologist from Livorno and CNR researcher, author of an important census and survey of the sea caves of the Tuscan archipelago. Right on the island of Capraia, the Bue Marino cave, a large 60-meter cavity with a final beach that opens into the rocky cliff in the south-eastern area of the island, just before the Punta dello Zenobito, was frequented by seals. «The last specimen of monk seal - explains Serena - was sighted on the island about fifty years ago, at least according to the stories of the fishermen I met when I surveyed the Bue Marino cave. About ten years ago there were several undocumented sightings, but they were nevertheless made, and one of these even in front of the coast of Rosignano (Livorno). So a new sighting in Capraia may be there, even if unfortunately, if it is not documented, it remains an anecdotal ».
