The indentation of the coastline, the diversity of the base, the bathymetric configuration and the specific hydrodynamic conditions are reflected in the wide variety of littoral biocoenoses - life communities - that are characteristic for the northern Adriatic region and are still unaffected by direct sources of contamination.
The local seas of Brijuni are important hatching grounds and representative oasis (marine park) for the typical marine organisms of the northern Adriatic, that is their colonies andcommunities. Of the marine organisms that are protected by the Law on Environmental Conservation in the waters of Brijuni you can find the pen-shell (Pinna nobilis) and the date-shell (Lithophaga lithophaga). Turtles and dolphins, the protected marine vertebrates, can also from time to time be seen in the waters of Brijuni. There are also some endemic species like the black tang, Jadranski bračić, and the tunicate, Jadranski ciganin.
The seabed abounds in sponges, shellfish, sea urchins, crustaceans, fish etc. Among fish the most numerous are sea basses, giltheads, grey mullets, soles, groupers, conger eels, dentexes, black umbers… In the past in the seas of Brijuni were found some species that were never seen in the Adriatic, as well as some species up to then unknown to scientists like the soft coral Alcyonium brionense (Kuekenthal 1906) or the variety of the sponge Ircinia variabilis fistulata (Syzmanski 1904).
More information: s.dujmovic@brijuni.hr