Biologist, Research Director

Dr Stylianos (Stelios) Somarakis is a Research Director at the Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Crete, Greece. He was a Lecturer at the Biology Department of the University of Patras, Greece, from 2002 to 2006 and Assistant Professor at the Biology Department of the University of Crete in 2007. He is an expert on ichthyoplankton, egg production methods, larval fish ecology, fish reproduction and pelagic food webs, with long experience on pelagic fish and fisheries. He was chairman (2005-2008) of the Working Group on small pelagics of the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM/Scientific Advisory Committee). He is a member of the Scientific Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF, European Commission) and moderator of the Sub-regional Committee for the Adriatic Sea (GFCM/SRC-AS). He serves on the Editorial Board of the journals ‘Marine Ecology Progress Series’, ‘Scientia Marina’ and ‘Mediterranean Marine Science’. He is author of 89 peer-reviewed papers in Scientific Journals, 15 chapters in books and more than 150 other publications.

Selected projects

• SARDONE - Improving assessment and management of small pelagic species in the Mediterranean. FP6-44294
• FRESH - Fish Reproduction and Fisheries. European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research - COST Action FA0601
• CLIMAFISH - Influence of climate on small pelagic fish biology, distribution and population dynamics. Thematic program created within the European Union network MARIFISH (ERA-NET)
• REPROdUCE - understanding REcruitment PROcesses Using Coupled biophysical models of the pelagic Ecosystem. MARIFISH Project (ERANET)
• SEAMAN - Spatially resolved Ecosystem models and their Application to Marine MANagement. SEAS-ERA Project (ERANET)

Selected publications

• Somarakis S., Schismenou E., Siapatis A., Giannoulaki M., Kallianiotis A., Machias A. (2012) High variability in the Daily Egg Production Method parameters of an eastern Mediterranean anchovy stock: Influence of environmental factors, fish condition and population density. Fisheries Research 117-118: 12-21
• Nikolioudakis N., Isari S., Pitta P., Somarakis S. (2012) Diet of sardine Sardina pilchardus: An 'end-to-end' field study. Marine Ecology Progress Series 453: 173-188
• Ganias K., Somarakis S., Nunes C. (2014) Reproductive potential. In: Ganias K. (ed) Biology and Ecology of sardines and anchovies. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, pp. 79-121.
• ΜcBride R.S., Somarakis S., Fitzhugh G.R., Albert A., Yaragina N.A., Wuenschel M.J., Alonso-Fernandez A. & Basilone G. (2015) Energy acquisition and allocation to egg production in relation to fish reproductive strategies. Fish and Fisheries 16: 23-57
• Politikos D., Somarakis S., Tsiaras K.P., Giannoulaki M., Petihakis G., Machias A., Triantafyllou G. (2015) Simulating anchovy's full life cycle in the northern Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean): A coupled hydro-biogeochemical-IBM model. Progress in Oceanography 138: 399-416

Contact

Address: Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, PO Box 2214, Heraklion, Greece
Telephone: +30 2810 337832
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.