13 research outputs found
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 Alien Mediterranean Biodiversity Records” (November 2021)
This Collective Article includes records of 29 alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to eight Phyla (Rhodophyta, Ochrophyta, Cnidaria, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and Chordata) and coming from 11 countries. Notes published here can be divided into three different categories: occupancy estimation for wide areas, new records for the Mediterranean Sea, and new records of species expanding within the Mediterranean Sea. The first category includes a visual survey held along the coastline of Peloponnese (Greece), which yielded records of 15 species. The second category includes the first Mediterranean records of the Coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch (Greece) and of the Arabian monocle bream Scolopsis ghanam (Tunisia). The third category includes new records for countries (Ganonema farinosum in Malta, Cassiopea andromeda in Libya, Cingulina isseli in Greece, Okenia picoensis in Italy, Callinectes sapidus in Slovenia, Charybdis cf. hellerii in Malta, Urocaridella pulchella in Cyprus, Ablennes hians and Aluterus monoceros in Lebanon, and Fistularia petimba in Greece and Lebanon), new records for MSFD areas or regional seas (Septifer cumingii in the Greek Ionian Sea and F. petimba in the Marmara Sea), and confirmation of old, doubtful, or spurious records/statements (Branchiomma luctuosum in Tunisia, Thalamita poissonii in the Saronikos Gulf, and Pterois miles in Albania). Noteworthy, the three new records of F. petimba suggest that it may soon spread further in the Mediterranean Sea, as already happened for its congeneric Fistularia commersonii. Distributional data reported here will help tracing colonization routes of alien species in the basin and may facilitate the development of mitigation measures
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
Προκαταρκτική μελέτη και σύγκριση της λειτουργικής μορφολογίας κρανίου σε τρία εγχελυόμορφα της Ελλάδας (M. helena, A. anguilla, C. conger)
Η εργασία αυτή αποτελεί μια πρώτη απόπειρα κατανόησης της λειτουργικής μορφολογίας κρανίου τριών Εγχελυόμορφων της Ελλάδος και η μεταξύ τους σύγκριση. Για την επίτευξη του εγχειρήματος αυτού, εξετάστηκαν και συγκρίθηκαν τα οστεολογικά χαρακτηριστικά της κεφαλής των ιχθύων, καθώς και κομμάτι της ηθολογίας τους. Μέσα από την συγκεκριμένη προσέγγιση, συσχετίζονται οστεολογικά και ηθολογικά χαρακτηριστικά, αναδεικνύονται ομοιότητες και διαφορές μεταξύ του Muraena helena , Anguilla anguilla και Conger conger και σχηματίζεται μια εικόνα των φυλογενετικών τους σχέσεων. Επίσης προτείνονται εναλλακτικοί μέθοδοι προσέγγισης του εγχειρήματος και σωματομετρίας.This study is a first attempt to understand the functional skull morphology of three Anguilliform species of Greece as well as to compare them. To achieve this goal we examined and compared the osteological characteristics of the fish skulls and part of their ethology. Through this approach osteological and ethological features were associated, similarities and differences between Muraena helena, Anguilla anguilla and Conger conger were highlighted and an image was constructed of their phylogenetic relationships. In addition alternative methods of approach and somatometric measurements were proposed
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)
Gerovasileiou, Vasilis/0000-0002-9143-7480; Vitale, Dyana/0000-0002-2172-3940; montesanto, federica/0000-0001-6328-7596WOS:000589690900012This 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.European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme [730984]; Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation [HFRI-FM17-1597]; Ege University Scientific Research Projects CouncilEge University [2011 SUF/020]; Kamal Shair CRSL research fund at the American University of Beirut [24584/103599]N. Abdelali and S. Grimes wish to express their sincere gratitude to Mahjoubi Ramy, aquaculture technician at Aquadora farm, from Bonaine, who provided them with the photos of the specimen reported and handed it over to them, and to Haseine Youcef Yasser, fisherman who captured the specimen. M. Pontes and F. Crocetta are grateful to Daniel Munoz Rodriguez (Madrid, Spain) for sharing the observation data and photos of Lamprohaminoea ovalis. R. El Zrelli and L. Rabaoui would like to thank all local fishermen who provided information about the Atlantic Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, in the Gulf of Gabes (south-eastern Tunisia). C. Licchelli and F. Denitto would like to thank Vincenzo Bruno, the local fisherman who shared data and information about their record. Andrea Spinelli and Dyana Vitale are grateful to Mr. Concetto Felice who filmed the C. taeniops specimen studied. F. Tiralongo and E. Azzurro are grateful to Giorgio Cavallaro (G.R.O. Sub Catania) for providing them with photos documenting the presence of Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea. A. Fortic and B. Mavric would like to thank Lovrenc Lipej and Domen Trkov for their help and support with the determination of specimens. F. Montesanto and F. Mastrototaro were supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 730984, ASSEMBLE Plus project and thank G. Chatzigeorgiou and P. Kasapidis for the assistance provided. Michail Ragkousis, Alexandros Tsatiris, Markos Digenis, Vasilis Gerovasileiou and Stelios Katsanevakis were supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the "First Call for H.F.R.I. 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'; Project Number: HFRI-FM17-1597). C. Kocak's work was supported by the Ege University Scientific Research Projects Council, Project Number 2011 SUF/020. C. Kocak would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Atakan Sukatar (Ege University, Faculty of Science, Izmir) for his help in identifying the algal species and Naciye Alan for her helpful assistance in the fieldwork. S. Yapici and F.Yalgin would like to thank Orhan Yilmaz for providing video and information on their specimen. M. Bariche and S. Mavruk would like to express their gratitude to the citizen scientists Messrs Wahib Nini, Ramzi Allenby Gargour, Ali Haydar, Mostafa Saeed, Georges Taza, and Mohamad Ali Ibrahim for regularly reporting their observations and findings. Their study was partly supported by the Kamal Shair CRSL research fund (24584/103599) at the American University of Beirut. G. Bitar and A. Badreddine wish to thank Dr. Ricardo Aguilar for his help on the identification of their specimen, the professional fisher Amin Mezher for providing them with photos and a video recording of the species, and the director of the "Lebanese fishermen" Facebook page Mr. Georges Taza for his cooperation
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