New Alien Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (October 2020)

This article includes 23 new records of alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to 4 Phyla (Chordata, Echinodermata, Arthropoda and Mollusca), distributed from the Alboran to the Levantine Sea. Records are reported from eight countries listed from West to East as follows: Algeria: new records of the Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus; Spain: further spread and establishment of the sea slug Lamprohaminoea ovalis in continental shores; Tunisia: first record of the Atlantic Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Gulf of Gabes; Italy: a new occurrence of the pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus in Northern Ionian waters; first record of Cephalopholis taeniops in the Ionian Sea; first record of the redlip blenny, Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea; Slovenia: first record of the isopod Paranthura japonica in Slovenia; Greece: first record of the molluscs Eunaticina papilla, Plocamopherus ocellatus and the fish Cheilodipterus novemstriatus; first record of the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata in Kriti; the long-spined sea urchin Diadema setosum in the Ionian Sea; Turkey: first record of the sea spider Ammothea hilgendorfi; the stomatopod Cloridina cf. ichneumon; the fishes Pempheris rhomboidea from the Sea of Marmara and Paranthias furcifer from the Aegean Sea; Lebanon: new records of the fishes Arothron hispidus, Rachycentron canadum, Heniochus intermedius and Acanthurus monroviae; first record of Acanthostracion polygonius. The records of Cloridina cf. ichneumon from southern Turkey and the fish Acanthostracion polygonius from Lebanon, both being the first Mediterranean records, are noteworthy

“New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea” (October 2021)

“New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea” (October 2021

Unpublished Mediterranean records of marine alien and cryptogenic species

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, buried in scattered repositories or in the personal databases of experts. Through an initiative to collect, harmonize and make such unpublished data for marine alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea available, a large dataset comprising 5376 records was created. It includes records of 239 alien or cryptogenic taxa (192 Animalia, 24 Plantae, 23 Chromista) from 19 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In terms of records, the most reported Phyla in descending order were Chordata, Mollusca, Chlorophyta, Arthropoda, and Rhodophyta. The most recorded species was Caulerpa cylindracea, followed by Siganus luridus, Magallana sp. (cf. gigas or angulata) and Pterois miles. The dataset includes records from 1972 to 2020, with the highest number of records observed in 2018. Among the records of the dataset, Dictyota acutiloba is a first record for the Mediterranean Sea. Nine first country records are also included: the alga Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla, the cube boxfish Ostracion cubicus, and the cleaner shrimp Urocaridella pulchella from Israel; the sponge Paraleucilla magna from Libya and Slovenia; the lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus from Cyprus; the bryozoan Celleporaria vermiformis and the polychaetes Prionospio depauperata and Notomastus aberans from Malta

Unpublished Mediterranean and Black Sea records of marine alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,649 records. It includes 247 taxa, of which 217 are Animalia, 25 Plantae and 5 Chromista, from 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Chordata was the most abundant taxonomic group, followed by Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Annelida. In terms of species records, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Saurida lessepsianus, Pterois miles, Upeneus moluccensis, Charybdis (Archias) longicollis, and Caulerpa cylindracea were the most numerous. The temporal distribution of the records ranges from 1973 to 2022, with 44% of the records in 2020–2021. Lethrinus borbonicus is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, while Pomatoschistus quagga, Caulerpa cylindracea, Grateloupia turuturu, and Misophria pallida are first records for the Black Sea; Kapraunia schneideri is recorded for the second time in the Mediterranean and for the first time in Israel; Prionospio depauperata and Pseudonereis anomala are reported for the first time from the Sea of Marmara. Many first country records are also included, namely: Amathia verticillata (Montenegro), Ampithoe valida (Italy), Antithamnion amphigeneum (Greece), Clavelina oblonga (Tunisia and Slovenia), Dendostrea cf. folium (Syria), Epinephelus fasciatus (Tunisia), Ganonema farinosum (Montenegro), Macrorhynchia philippina (Tunisia), Marenzelleria neglecta (Romania), Paratapes textilis (Tunisia), and Botrylloides diegensis (Tunisia).Stelios Katsanevakis, Michail Ragkousis, Maria Sini, Markos Digenis and Vasilis Gerovasileiou were supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) under the “First Call for HFRI Research Projects to support Faculty members and Researchers and the procurement of high-cost research equipment grant” (Project ALAS – “ALiens in the Aegean – a Sea under siege” (Katsanevakis et al. 2020b); Project Number: HFRI-FM17-1597). Konstantinos Tsirintanis was co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning”, 2014-2020, in the context of the Act “Enhancing Human Resources Research Potential by undertaking a Doctoral Research” Sub-action 2: IKY Scholarship Programme for PhD candidates in the Greek Universities. Maria Zotou was supported by the project “Coastal Environment Observatory and Risk Management in Island Regions AEGIS+” (MIS 5047038), implemented within the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014-2020), co financed by the Hellenic Government (Ministry of Development and Investments) and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund). Razy Hoffman was supported by Yad-Hanadiv Foundation, through the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences and Israel Nature and Parks Authority, an integrated program for establishing biological baselines and monitoring protocols for marine reserves in the Israeli Mediterranean Sea (Grant #10669). Tatiana Begun, Adrian Teaca and Mihaela Muresan were supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 BRIDGE-BS project under grant agreement no. 101000240. Fiona Tomas was supported by the project “Invasion of the tropical alga Halimeda incrassata in the Balearic Islands: ecology and invasion dynamics (AAEE119/2017)”, funded by the Vicepresidencia y Consejería de Innovación, Investigación y Turismo del Govern de les Illes Balears, with support from the European Union and FEDER funds, and the project “Una nueva alga invasora en el Mediterráneo: invasibilidad, detección y erradicación del alga tropical Halimeda incrassata (INVHALI)”, funded by the Fundación Biodiversidad, del Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico. Simonetta Fraschetti, Laura Tamburello, Antonia Chiarore were supported by the project PO FEAMP 2014-2020 - DRD n. 35/2019, “Innovazione, sviluppo e sostenibilità nel settore della pesca e dell'acquacoltura per la Regione Campania” (ISSPA 2.51) and the EU EASME - EMFF (Sustainable Blue Econ-omy) Project AFRIMED (http://afrimed-project.eu/, grant agreement N. 789059). Carlos Jimenez, Louis Hadjioannou, Vasilis Resaikos, Valentina Fossati, Magdalene Papatheodoulou, and Antonis Petrou were supported by MedPan Small Projects, Mava, and LIFE-IP. Louis Hadjioannou, Manos L. Moraitis and Neophytos Agrotis received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program within the framework of the CMMI/MaRITeC-X project under grant agreement No. 857586. Ernesto Azzurro was supported by the project USEIt - Utilizzo di Sinergie operative per la gestione integrata specie aliene Invasive in Italia, funded by the research programme @CNR. Antonietta Rosso and Francesco Sciuto were supported by the University of Catania through “PiaCeRi-Piano Incentivi per la Ricerca di Ateneo 2020–22 linea di intervento 2.” This is the Catania Paleoecological Research Group contribution n. 484. Diego K. Kersting was supported by the Beatriu de Pinós programme funded by the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) and the Horizon 2020 programme of research and innovation of the European Union under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801370. Francesco Tiralongo was supported by the AlienFish project of Ente Fauna Marina Mediterranea (Scientific Organization for Research and Conservation of Marine Biodiversity, 96012 Avola, Italy), a citizen science project for monitoring and studying rare and non-indigenous fish in Italian waters. Adriana Vella, was supported by funds through the BioCon_Innovate Research Excellence Grant from the University of Malta awarded to her. Noel Vella was supported by REACH HIGH Scholars Programme-Post Doctoral Grant for the FINS project. Some of the records provided by Victor Surugiu were obtained during surveys carried out within the framework of the project “Adequate management of invasive species in Romania, in accordance with EU Regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species”, SMIS 2014+ 120008, coordinated by the Romanian Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests in partnership with the University of Bucharest (2018–2022). Alan Deidun and Alessio Marrone were supported by the “Spot The Alien” citizen science campaign for the monitoring of the Alien species in the Maltese archipelago and by the Interreg Italia-Malta Harmony project. The authors from the National Institute of Biology (Slovenia) acknowledge the financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency (Research Core Funding No. P1-0237) and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (project “Survey of the species richness and abundance of alien species in the Slovenian Sea”). Emanuele Mancini and Fabio Collepardo Coccia were supported by the project PO-FEAMP 2014-2020 “BIOBLITZ: research, knowledge and participation for the sustainable management of marine resources (BioBlitz Blu 2020)” coordinated by CURSA for MIPAAF, the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, Measure 1.40 - Protection and restoration of biodiversity and marine ecosystems and compensation schemes in the context of sustainable fishing activities. Daniele Grech was supported by the PO-FEAMP 2014-2020 project ECOGESTOCK “Approccio ECOsistemico per la tutela e la GEStione delle risorse biologiche e STOCK ittici nelle acque interne”, the citizen science project Progetto Fucales: chi le ha viste? and the Paralenz Every dive counts sponsor. Jamila Rizgalla was supported by the project Snowball for the monitoring of alien species in Libyan waters له اهتفش له اهتدطصا ؟) have you seen it have you fished it?). Gerasimos Kondylatos and Dimitrios Mavrouleas were supported by the project “EXPLIAS” (MIS (ΟΠΣ): 5049912), design and piloting methods of commercial exploitation of invasive alien species with a view to contributing to their population control, coordinated by the National Technical University of Athens with the collaboration of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research and the University of the Aegean and co-founded by Greece and the European Union. G. Kondylatos and Savvas Nikolidakis were supported by the project “SAMOS” (ID CODE: 32.2072004/001), a study for a submarine productive park in Marathokampos of Samos. Paraskevi K. Karachle, Aikaterini Dogrammatzi, Giorgos A. Apostolopoulos, Kassiani Konida and Melina Nalmpanti were supported by the project “4ALIEN: Biology and the potential economic exploitation of four alien species in the Hellenic Seas”, funded by NRSF 2017-2020 (MIS (ΟΠΣ): 5049511). Fabio Crocetta and Riccardo Virgili were partially funded by the project PO FEAMP Campania 2014–2020, DRD n. 35 of 15th March 2018, Innovazione, sviluppo e sostenibilità nel settore della pesca e dell’acquacoltura per la regione Campania, Misura 2.51, WP5, Task 5.5 Presenza e distribuzione di specie non indigene del macrozoobenthos e del necton in Campania. Michel Bariche was partially funded by the University Research Board of the American University of Beirut (DDF 103951/2592). Constantinos G. Georgiadis, Dimitra Lida Rammou, Paschalis Papadamakis and Sotiris Orfanidis were supported by the MSFD monitoring program. Sonia Smeraldo was supported by the MPA-Engage project, led by the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council and funded by the Interreg MED program. Evgeniia Karpova acknowledge that the publication of this article was in part carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the FRC IBSS “Patterns of Formation and Anthropogenic Transformation of Biodiversity and Bioresources of the Azov– Black Sea Basin and Other Regions of the World Ocean” (No. 121030100028-0). Elena Slynko’s work was carried out within the framework of a State Assignment no. 121051100109-1 of IBIW RAS. Manuela Falautano and Luca Castriota were supported by ISPRA citizen science campaigns for the monitoring of alien species through the dedicated institutional project ([email protected]). María Altamirano was supported by the project RUGULOPTERYX funded by Fundación Biodiversidad-Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el reto Demográfico (Spain) and the project UMA20-FEDERJA-006 with support from the European Union and FEDER funds and Junta de Andalucía. Records provided by L. Mangialajo were collected in the framework of projects funded by the Pew Charitable Trust, by the European Commission (AFRIMED, http://afrimed-project.eu/, grant agreement N. 789059) and by the Académie 3 de l’Université Côte d’Azur (projet CONVOST).Peer reviewe

Unpublished Mediterranean and Black Sea records of marine alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,649 records. It includes 247 taxa, of which 217 are Animalia, 25 Plantae and 5 Chromista, from 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Chordata was the most abundant taxonomic group, followed by Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Annelida. In terms of species records, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Saurida lessepsianus, Pterois miles, Upeneus moluccensis, Charybdis (Archias) longicollis, and Caulerpa cylindracea were the most numerous. The temporal distribution of the records ranges from 1973 to 2022, with 44% of the records in 2020–2021. Lethrinus borbonicus is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, while Pomatoschistus quagga, Caulerpa cylindracea, Grateloupia turuturu, and Misophria pallida are first records for the Black Sea; Kapraunia schneideri is recorded for the second time in the Mediterranean and for the first time in Israel; Prionospio depauperata and Pseudonereis anomala are reported for the first time from the Sea of Marmara. Many first country records are also included, namely: Amathia verticillata (Montenegro), Ampithoe valida (Italy), Antithamnion amphigeneum (Greece), Clavelina oblonga (Tunisia and Slovenia), Dendostrea cf. folium (Syria), Epinephelus fasciatus (Tunisia), Ganonema farinosum (Montenegro), Macrorhynchia philippina (Tunisia), Marenzelleria neglecta (Romania), Paratapes textilis (Tunisia), and Botrylloides diegensis (Tunisia).peer-reviewe

Comparative Study of Marine Cave Communities in a Protected Area of the South-Eastern Aegean Sea, Greece

Although more than 600 marine caves have been recorded so far along the Greek coasts of the Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean), only a few have been systematically studied for their biodiversity. In this study, the benthic communities of six marine caves within a Protected Area of South-Eastern Aegean were studied for the first time, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The association of different geomorphological and topographical factors of the caves with the benthic community structure was investigated. A total of 120 photographic quadrats covering the entrance and semi-dark cave zones were analysed, with regard to coverage and taxon abundance, while motile taxa were qualitatively recorded by visual census. The ecological quality status of the caves was also assessed under an ecosystem-based approach. In total, 81 sessile and 45 motile taxa were recorded, including 12 protected and 10 non-indigenous species. Multivariate community analysis demonstrated that the geomorphological and topographical variables of the caves are significantly associated with the observed biotic patterns. The ecological quality of the caves was assessed as poor or moderate according to the CavEBQI index, highlighting the necessity for systematic monitoring. This study paves the way for similar studies in marine cave habitats aiming at the development of management and conservation actions

Rarely Reported Cryptobenthic Fish in Marine Caves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Data on the distribution and ecology of cryptobenthic fish of marine caves in the Mediterranean Sea are extremely scarce but necessary for scientists and marine managers alike in order to understand these fish’s ecological role and assess their conservation status. Broadscale surveys by implementing underwater visual census and photographic sampling in marine caves of the northeastern Mediterranean Sea, within different expeditions during the last 5 years, brought to light new records of eight rarely reported cryptobenthic fish species. To a smaller extent, complementary citizen science data from diving professionals of Crete were used to fill distribution gaps. A total of 36 new records (66 individuals) from 18 marine caves and caverns of the Aegean and northeastern Levantine Seas were assembled, belonging to the gobies Corcyrogobius liechtensteini, Didogobius splechtnai, Gammogobius steinitzi, and Thorogobius ephippiatus, the blenny Microlipophrys nigriceps, the tripterygiid Tripterygion melanurum, the speleophilic bythitid Grammonus ater, and the gobiesocid Lepadogaster cf. lepadogaster. The above species have been rarely reported from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, with D. splechtnai and G. steinitzi being recorded for the first and second time from Greek waters, respectively, while L. cf. lepadogaster constitutes the second record of a clingfish species in a marine cave of the Aegean Sea. Interesting behavioral and ecological habits were also noted for some species, based on in situ observations and photographic evidence. Our study contributes to filling gaps in the knowledge of cave fish diversity and demonstrates that cryptobenthic mobile species in understudied cryptic habitats are more common than previously thought in the Mediterranean Sea

New alien Mediterranean biodiversity records (October 2020)

This article includes 23 new records of alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to 4 Phyla (Chordata, Echinodermata, Arthropoda and Mollusca), distributed from the Alboran to the Levantine Sea. Records are reported from eight countries listed from West to East as follows: Algeria: new records of the Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus; Spain: further spread and establishment of the sea slug Lamprohaminoea ovalis in continental shores; Tunisia: first record of the Atlantic Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Gulf of Gabes; Italy: a new occurrence of the pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus in Northern Ionian waters; first record of Cephalopholis taeniops in the Ionian Sea; first record of the redlip blenny, Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea; Slovenia: first record of the isopod Paranthura japonica in Slovenia; Greece: first record of the molluscs Eunaticina papilla, Plocamopherus ocellatus and the fish Cheilodipterus novemstriatus; first record of the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata in Kriti; the long-spined sea urchin Diadema setosum in the Ionian Sea; Turkey: first record of the sea spider Ammothea hilgendor-fi; the stomatopod Cloridina cf. ichneumon; the fishes Pempheris rhomboidea from the Sea of Marmara and Paranthias furcifer from the Aegean Sea; Lebanon: new records of the fishes Arothron hispidus, Rachycentron canadum, Heniochus intermedius and Acanthurus monroviae; first record of Acanthostracion polygonius. The records of Cloridina cf. ichneumon from southern Turkey and the fish Acanthostracion polygonius from Lebanon, both being the first Mediterranean records, are noteworthy

New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea (October 2021)

This Collective Article presents information about 27 taxa belonging to five Phyla (one Ochrophyta, one Cnidaria, three Arthropoda, two Mollusca and twenty Chordata) and extending from the Western Mediterranean Sea to the Levantine Sea and the Black Sea (Sea of Marmara). The new records were reported from 11 countries as follows: Algeria: occurrence of the African striped grunt Parapristipoma octolineatum; Spain: new records of eight uncommon fish species (Gadella maraldi, Hypleurochilus bananensis, Lobotes surinamensis, Parapristipoma octolineatum, Selene dorsalis, Sphoeroides marmoratus, Tetragonurus cuvieri, and Trachyrincus scabrus) from the Spanish Mediterranean; Italy: new record of the football octopus Ocythoe tuberculata from the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea; a rare sighting of a juvenile phase of a moray eel of the genus Gymnothorax, tentatively identified as Gymnothorax cf. unicolor in the Ligurian Sea; first record of adult Facciola's sorcerer Facciolella oxyrhynchus in the Adriatic Sea; occurrence of the tope shark Galeorhinus galeus in the Northern Adriatic Sea; Libya: first confirmed record of the pen shell Pinna rudis; first documented record of the palaemonid shrimp Brachycarpus biunguiculatus; first record of the fish Sudis hyalina; Malta: new records of Grant's rockling, Gaidropsarus granti; multiple concomitant reports of the rare hydromedusan species Aequorea forskalea; Croatia: a record of the skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis in the Southern Adriatic Sea; Albania: new record of the bigeye thresher shark Alopias superciliosus; Greece: confirmation of the rare brown alga Sargassum flavifolium occurrence in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; first record of the scaleless dragonfish Bathophilus nigerrimus; Turkey: first occurrence of the calanoid copepod Pteriacartia josephinae in the Aegean Sea; first documented record of the Cremona's sea slug Placida cremoniana for the easternmost Mediterranean Sea; new record of the yellow-headed goby Gobius xanthocephalus in the Sea of Marmara; Cyprus: first record of the Liechtenstein's goby Corcyrogobius liechtensteini; an individual of the Yellow fin tuna Thunnus albacares captured with handline by an artisanal fisher; Lebanon: an individual of the Black marlin Istiompax indica captured in a gill net

Unpublished Mediterranean records of marine alien and cryptogenic species

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, buried in scattered repositories or in the personal databases of experts. Through an initiative to collect, harmonize and make such unpublished data for marine alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea available, a large dataset comprising 5376 records was created. It includes records of 239 alien or cryptogenic taxa (192 Animalia, 24 Plantae, 23 Chromista) from 19 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In terms of records, the most reported Phyla in descending order were Chordata, Mollusca, Chlorophyta, Arthropoda, and Rhodophyta. The most recorded species was Caulerpa cylindracea, followed by Siganus luridus, Magallana sp. (cf. gigas or angulata) and Pterois miles. The dataset includes records from 1972 to 2020, with the highest number of records observed in 2018. Among the records of the dataset, Dictyota acutiloba is a first record for the Mediterranean Sea. Nine first country records are also included: the alga Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla, the cube boxfish Ostracion cubicus, and the cleaner shrimp Urocaridella pulchella from Israel; the sponge Paraleucilla magna from Libya and Slovenia; the lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus from Cyprus; the bryozoan Celleporaria vermiformis and the polychaetes Prionospio depauperata and Notomastus aberans from Malta.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource