Three mitochondrial lineages and no Atlantic-Mediterranean barrier for the bogue Boops boops across its widespread distribution

Marine species exhibiting wide distributional ranges are frequently subdivided into discrete genetic units over limited spatial scales. This is often due to specifc life-history traits or oceanographic barriers that prevent gene fow. Fine-scale sampling studies revealed distinct phylogeographic patterns in the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, ranging from panmixia to noticeable population genetic structure. Here, we used mitochondrial sequence data to analyse connectivity in the bogue Boops boops throughout most of its widespread distribution. Our results identifed the existence of three clades, one comprising specimens from the Azores and eastern Atlantic/Mediterranean, another with individuals from the Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde archipelagos, and the third with samples from Mauritania only. One of the branches of the northern subtropical gyre (Azores Current) that drifts towards the Gulf of Cádiz promotes a closer connection between the Azores, southern Portugal and the Mediterranean B. boops populations. The Almería-Oran Front, widely recognised as an oceanographic barrier for many organisms to cross the Atlantic-Mediterranean divide, does not seem to afect the dispersal of this benthopelagic species. The southward movement of the Cape Verde Frontal Zone during the winter, combined with the relatively short duration of the pelagic larval stage of B. boops, may be potential factors for preventing the connectivity between the Atlantic oceanic archipelagos and Mauritania shaping the genetic signature of this species.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (July 2019)

This is the second collective paper issued in 2019, currently amalgamates new knowledge on the Mediterranean geographic distributions of 17 species from five phyla (six aliens, three cosmopolitans, two east Atlantic records and six natives). The acknowledged species were reported from ten countries, mentioned here from west to east: Spain: first report of the east Atlantic grouper Cephalopholis taeniops in the western Mediterranean and an inclusion of Pontarachna puntulum and Litarachna communis to the pontarachnid fauna of Spain; Morocco: first record of Solea senegalensis from the Moroccan Mediterranean coast; Algeria: a valid confirmation for the presence of Sardinella maderensis; Malta: a first record of the Red Sea stomatopod Erugosquilla massavensis; Italy: a rare observation of the crab Paragalene longicrura from Siciliy and a further integration of the alien brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus to the commercial catch in Sicily; Montenegro: a first record of the Lessepsian bigfin reef squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana from the Adriatic Sea; Turkey: northernmost documentation of the Mediterranean flatworm Prostheceraeus giesbrechtii in the Aegean Sea; Israel: a solid confirmation for the population establishment of both the alien rock shrimp Sicyonia lancifer and two species of angelfish, and a first and deepest record of the crystalline goby Odondebuenia balearica; Lebanon: first record of the jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca; Syria: first records of the crown jellyfish Nausithoe punctate and the smallscale codlet Bregmaceros nectabanus

Atypical characteristics in blackmouth catshark, Galeus melastomus (Chondrichthyes: Scyliorhinidae) from the Algerian coast (southern Mediterranean Sea)

The authors report in the present paper the capture of an abnormal specimen of the blackmouth catshark Galeus melastomus Rafinesque, 1810 from the central coast of Algeria (southern Mediterranean Sea). The specimen was a sub–mature female having 478 mm in total length (TL) and weighing 265 g in total body weight (TBW). The specimen displayed a severe atrophy of the right clasper and a poor development of the right pelvic fin. These abnomalities are compared with other similar patterns reported in elasmobranch. The origin of the abnormalities remains questionnable, due to unfavourable environmental conditions (action of pollutants) or to endogenous origin or genetic during embryonic development

Age and growth of the striped seabream, Lithognathus mormyrus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Sparidae), in the central coast of Algeria, Mediterranean Sea

Background. Striped seabream, Lithognathus mormyrus (Linnaeus, 1758), is a bony fish, which has a high economic value on the Algerian coast. Because of the increasing fishing pressure, however, a close monitoring is recommended. The information about the biology of this species, occurring in the south-western Mediterranean Sea and especially in the north African coast, is very limited. The presently reported study provides new estimated data on age and growth parameters of striped seabream in Algeria. Materials and methods. A total of 449 specimens of L. mormyrus were sampled for 2 years (January 2013 to December 2014) from the commercial fishery in the central part of the Algerian coast. The samples were collected monthly. The fish ranged in size from 11.5 cm to 34.5 cm and weighed between 21.6 g and 540.3 g. We analysed the sagittal otolith morphology and morphometry to determine a relation with the fish ontogeny. Fish age was determined from the sagittal otoliths to identify growth structures based on digitally processed otolith images aided by the TNPC software. Results. No significant difference between the two otoliths (left and right) was detected (ANCOVA, P . 0.05). The correlation between each biometric parameter of the otolith (length and width) and fish length (TL) was significant (ANCOVA, P < 0.05). The evolution of marginal increment analysis (MI) showed that the annual periodicity of the growth ring was between July and December. The growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy model were estimated for each sex separately. In females they assumed the following values: TL8 = 35.44 cm, K = 0.27 yr–1, and t0 = -1.25 yr, while in males—TL8 = 26.94 cm and K = 0.6 yr–1, t0 = -0.45 yr. The asymptotic length was higher in females than in males. Males were represented only by small specimens and less than or equal to four years of age. Conclusion. The presently reported results are the first ones on the age and growth of L. mormyrus off the Algerian coast. They will hopefully improve future stock management to get a sustainable fisher

Skeletal traits and otoliths can unravel the relationships within European Gobiidae (Gobius lineage sensu lato)

Reichenbacher, Beưina, Vukić, Jasna, Šanda, Radek, Schliewen, Ulrich K., Esmaeili, Hamid R., Kassar, Abderrahmane (2023): Skeletal traits and otoliths can unravel the relationships within European Gobiidae (Gobius lineage sensu lato). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 199 (3): 656-687, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad058, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad05