Reçu le 13 juillet 2012 ; accepté après révision le 25 février 2013. Received 13 July 2012; accepted in revised form 25 February 2013. Cah. Biol. Mar. (2013) 54 : 335-347 Occurrence and abundance of the deep-water red shrimps Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816) and Aristaeomorpha foliacea (Risso, 1827) in the central eastern Mediterranean Sea Paola RINELLI 1 , Marco L. BIANCHINI 2 , Loredana CASCIARO 3 , Agnese GIOVE 4 , Alessandro MANNINI 5 , Chrissi-Yanna POLITOU 6 , Adriana PROFETA 1 , Sergio RAGONESE 7 and Andrea SABATINI 8 (1) Institute for the Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC-CNR), Spianata San Ranieri 86, 98122 Messina, Italy Tel: +390906015451, Fax: +39090669007, E-mail: paola.rinelli@iamc.cnr.it (2) Institute of Agro-environmental Biology and Forestry (IBAF-CNR), Via Salaria km 29.300, 00015 Montelibretti (RM), Italy (3) COISPA Technology & Research, Via Dei Trulli, 18/20, Torre A Mare, Bari, Italy (4) Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, University of Bari, Via E. Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy (5) DISTAV Department of the Science of Earth, Environmental and Life, University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genova, Italy (6) Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources, Athens, Greece (7) Institute for the Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC–CNR), Via Vaccara 61, 91026 Mazara del Vallo (TP), Italy (8) Department of Animal and Ecological Biology (DBAE), University of Cagliari, Viale Poetto 1, 09126 Cagliari, Italy Abstract: The blue-and-red shrimp Aristeus antennatus and the giant red shrimp Aristaeomorpha foliacea are among the major economic resources in the Mediterranean Sea and represent the main target of the western and central Mediterranean deep-sea (400-800 m) fisheries. In this paper, data on abundance (both density and biomass) of A. antennatus and A. foliacea resulting from the MEDITS surveys from 1994 to 2004, carried out with common protocols in seven Mediterranean FAO-GFCM Geographical Sub-Areas (GSAs), have been analysed using standardized methodologies. Both red shrimps species occur almost exclusively on the “meso-bathyal” stratum (500-800 m). The distribution pattern appears quite different for the two species, but no significant trends in density and biomass (neither at geographical nor at temporal level) could be detected. Sardinia shows the highest abundance for both species, although with some local negative tendencies along time. A very high interannual variability was detected in all areas. Comparing the present results to those recorded by Cau et al. in 2002, a rather stable status of the deep-sea red shrimps stocks was observed, which is not an encouraging finding when considering the reduction in fishing capacity and the management measures adopted by the EU in recent years. Résumé : Occurrence et abondance des crevettes rouges d’eaux profondes Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816) et Aristaeomorpha foliacea (Risso, 1827) en Mer Méditerranée centre-orientale. La crevette rouge Aristeus antennatus et le gambon rouge Aristaeomorpha foliacea figurent parmi les principales ressources économiques de la Mer Méditerranée et sont les principales espèces cibles de la pêche en profondeur (400-800 m) dans les zones occidentale et centrale. Dans cette