Seabed classification around Lampione islet, Pelagie Islands Marine Protected Area, Sicily Channel, Mediterranean Sea.

We present the first seabed map of the shallow-water areas of Lampione, the islet of to the Pelagie Islands Marine Protected Area (Sicily Channel, Italy). The seafloor was mapped from the coast to about a depth of 75 m using high-resolution multibeam systems (both for bathymetry and backscatter) along with ground-truth data in the form of grab samples and ROV video-observations. The map was produced using Remotely Sensing Object Based Image Analysis by integrating information derived from multibeam system, validated by ground-truth data. The resulting 1: 5.000 scale map includes sediment types and habitat distribution contributing to the knowledge of the peculiar marine ecosystem observed at Lampione, that will be checked and implemented through further surveys. In particular, the map provides the first indication of the occurrence of rhodolith/maërl habitats at Lampione, which are among the most important ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea.