New records of rare species in the Mediterranean Sea (October 2020)

This Collective Article presents information about 21 taxa belonging to seven Phyla (one Ochrophyta, one Porifera, three Cnidaria, two Arthropoda, three Mollusca, one Echinodermata, and ten Chordata) and extending from the western Mediterranean Sea to the Levantine Sea. The new records were reported from nine countries as follows: Spain: first records of three deep-sea species from the Blanes Canyon along the Catalan margin, namely the gorgonian Placogorgia coronata, the bivalve Acesta excavata, and the Azores rockling Gaidropsarus granti; Italy: first record of the mesopsammic nudibranch Embletonia pulchra from Ligurian shallow-waters; first record of the deep-sea carnivorous sponge Lycopodina hypogea from the north-central Tyrrhenian Sea, living in dense clusters over dead black corals; new records of the Portuguese man o’ war Physalia physalis from Sardinian and Sicilian waters; first Italian record of the large asteroid Coronaster briareus from the Ionian Sea; first record of the white grouper Epinephelus aeneus in the northernmost point of the Adriatic Sea; Croatia: first record of the gastropod Haliotis mykonosensis for the Adriatic Sea; Malta: new sightings of Physalia physalis from Maltese waters; Libya: first record of the sand crab Albunea carabus from two localities along the Libyan coast; Greece: first records of the deep-sea black coral Parantipathes larix from the eastern Mediterranean Sea; first verified record of the agujon needlefish Tylosurus imperialis in the Hellenic Ionian Sea; first confirmed record of the brown algae Treptacantha squarrosa in the eastern Mediterranean Sea; new records of three deep-sea fish species from the Aegean Sea, namely the bluntnose sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus, the Atlantic pomfret Brama brama, and the rudderfish Centrolophus niger; new record of the tripletail Lobotes surinamensis from Lesvos Island; new record of the shrimp Brachycarpus biunguiculatus from the gut content of the non-indigenous lionfish Pterois miles; Turkey: new record of the imperi- al blackfish Schedophilus ovalis from Turkish waters; Lebanon: first record of the slender sunfish Ranzania laevis, stranded along the Lebanese coast; Israel: new record, after about 60 years from the last catch, of the spotted dragonet Callionymus maculatus.peer-reviewe

21 traits by 86 species in eastern Ionian fisheries

<p>This file contains traits data for 86 species appearing in the catches of the multi-species fisheries in the eastern Ionian Sea. There are data on 21 traits; for each trait, 2-6 trait categories/modalities exist and each species can only belong to one modality per trait.</p> <p>The excel file has 3 worksheets:</p> <p>(1) The first worksheet is a presence/absence (1/0) matrix of 86 species by 73 traits categories (or modalities).</p> <p>(2) The second worksheet is a matrix of the same 86 species by 21 traits with one or more numbers representing a reference.</p> <p>(3) The third worksheet is a list of reference numbers and the corresponding references.</p> <p> </p

Koutsidi_Moukas_Tzanatos_21_traits_by_235_species.xls

<p>This file contains traits data for 235 Mediterranean fisheries resource species. There are data on 21 traits; the data are presented in a continuous or a categorical form (in the latter case, for each trait 2-6 trait categories/modalities exist and each species can only belong to one modality per trait).</p> <p> </p> <p>The excel file has 5 worksheets:</p> <p> </p> <p>(1) <b>continuous_traits_235_species</b>: This worksheet contains information on the continuous traits (longevity, age-at-maturity, fecundity, maximum length, trophic level, depth, optimal temperature). For traits of the range type (e.g. depth) minimum and maximum values as well as the mean value are provided.</p> <p> </p> <p>(2) <b>complete_21_traits_205_species</b>: This worksheet is a presence/absence (1/0) matrix of 205 species by 75 traits categories (or modalities). Only the species with complete information (205 species) on all 21 traits are presented.</p> <p> </p> <p>(3) <b>incomplete_21_traits_235_species</b>: This worksheet is a presence/absence (1/0) matrix of 205 species by 75 traits categories (or modalities). All species, even with incomplete information (235 species) on all 21 traits are presented.</p> <p> </p> <p>(4) <b>reference_codes_per_trait</b>: This worksheet is a matrix of the 235 species by 21 traits with one or more numbers representing a reference from which the information to fill in the trait information (shown in the previous worksheets) was taken.</p> <p> </p> <p>(5) <b>reference_list</b>: This worksheet is a list of reference numbers and the corresponding full references.</p

Koutsidi_Moukas_Tzanatos_Table_S2.xls

<p>Koutsidi_Moukas_Tzanatos_Table_S2: The competition between 205 species of Mediterranean fisheries resources examined, specifically for (a) habitat use, (b) spawning habitat use, and (c) food resources of mature stages. </p><p>Species occurring in the same habitat (Posidonia beds, coralligene formations, lagoons) according to the cited sources are considered as competitors for the specific resource.</p><p> </p><p>The excel file has 3 worksheets:</p><p> </p><p>(1) habitat_use: This worksheet contains the 205 species examined, sorted by the modalities of the traits (depth, habitat type, seabed type) relevant to habitat use.</p><p> </p><p>(2) adult_food: This worksheet contains the 205 species examined, sorted by the modalities of the traits (maximum length, trophic level, feeding type) relevant to the use of food resources by mature fish.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(3) spawning_habitat: This worksheet contains the 205 species examined, sorted by the modalities of the traits (spawning period, spawning habitat) relevant to spawning habitat use.</p><p><br></p

Koutsidi_Moukas_Tzanatos_Table_S1.xls

<p></p><p>Koutsidi_Moukas_Tzanatos_Table_S1: Niche classification scheme for 205 species of Mediterranean fisheries resources, generated from a Regression tree analysis, using four niche descriptors (distribution, ecology, biology, behaviour). The file includes the traits of the nodes of each niche descriptor for each species examined.</p><br><p></p

Biology and fisheries of the spotted flounder (

Obtaining data to study fish biology can be a challenge if a stock is fished by a variety of gears with different effort units and different selectivity, particularly if these gears only partially overlap in space and time. In this work, we attempted to study the biology of the spotted flounder Citharus linguatula in the Patraikos Gulf and the adjacent central Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean) and to evaluate the current fisheries management. We characterized age composition and growth, length-at-maturity, and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of spotted flounder from the catches of bottom trawls, gillnets and trammel nets for the period autumn 2013–2014. Variation of fish total length, gonadosomatic index, hepatosomatic index and condition factor was analyzed using generalized additive models (GAMs) with regard to sex, date, fishing gear and depth. We also modeled CPUE fluctuations of each gear by date, depth, longitude and latitude using GAMs. Fish age ranged from 1 to 5 years. A slightly allometric growth was documented with females attaining larger sizes than males. Length-at-maturity was 163 mm for females and 169 mm for males. The seasonal change of gonad maturity stages and the gonadosomatic index indicated spawning in late summer-autumn. Changes in length frequencies indicated that recruitment to the fisheries occurred in late spring-early winter in shallow depth (<40 m). The catch composition of trawls and the CPUE model results suggested that the selectivity of this gear should be regulated to reduce catching immature individuals of spotted flounder. The results further indicated that the seasonal trawl closure of the Patraikos Gulf contributes to reduce catching juveniles