Marine Yeasts of the Western Mediterranean Reveal Hidden Diversity and

Researchers working along Spain’s Region of Murcia have completed what they say is the first full-scale, four-season census since 1984 of culturable marine yeasts in the western Mediterranean. Published in IMA Fungus, the study sampled seawater and sediment from ten sites over autumn 2024 through summer 2025, using triplicate collections each season and in situ measurements of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and conductivity. The team recovered 415 yeast strains spanning 90 species across 44 genera, including 12 likely new to science. The work covered diverse habitats, from rocky shores and seagrass meadows to the hypersaline Mar Menor and salt ponds where salinity reached 70.4 g/L. Identification relied on ITS and LSU rRNA sequencing thresholds.