Pojava plavog dugmeta Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758) zaljev Iskenderun, sjeveroistočna mediteranska obala Turske

The blue button Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758) was observed for the first time in July 2018 in the Iskenderun Bay, Northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. This is the third record of this species for Turkish marine waters, while it is the first record for Iskenderun bay. The presence of P. porpita in the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey shows its extension from northwestern Mediterranean coast (Antalya Bay) of Turkey.Plavo dugme Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758.) prvi je put primijećen u srpnju 2018. u zaljevu Iskenderun, sjeveroistočna obala Mediterana u Turskoj. Ovo je treći zapis ove vrste za tursko more, a prvi je zabilježeni nalaz za zaljev Iskenderun. Prisutnost P. porpita na sjeveroistočnoj mediteranskoj obali Turske pokazuje njezino proširenje od sjeverozapadne mediteranske obale (zaljev Antalya) u Turskoj

A Checklist of the Non-indigenous Fishes in Turkish Marine Waters

A checklist of non-indigenous marine fishes including bony, cartilaginous and jawless distributed along the Turkish Marine Waters was for the first time generated in the present study. The number of records of non-indigenous fish species found in Turkish marine waters were 101 of which 89 bony, 11 cartilaginous and 1 jawless. In terms of occurrence of non-indigenous fish species in the surrounding Turkish marine waters, the Mediterranean coast has the highest diversity (92 species), followed by the Aegean Sea (50 species), the Marmara Sea (11 species) and the Black Sea (2 species). The Indo-Pacific origin of the non-indigenous fish species is represented with 73 species while the Atlantic origin of the non-indigenous species is represented with 22 species. Only first occurrence of a species in the Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black Sea Coasts of Turkey is given with its literature in the list

Threatened brill species in marine waters of Turkey: Scopthalmus rhombus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Scopthalmidae)

Scopthalmus rhombus is rarely occurred and restricted to marine and estuarine sites in the eastern Marmara Sea and western Black Sea coast of Turkey. S. rhombus is occasionally caught in low numbers and continuously decreased in abundance due to overfishing and habitat degradations. This species should be considered to be threatened for Turkish marine waters. This species might also be recorded in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened (NT)

Occurrence of the Red Sea goatfish Parupeneus forsskali (Fourmanoir & Guézé, 1976) (Perciformes: Mullidae) from Iskenderun Bay, Northeastern Mediterranean

On 15 March 2015, a single specimen of Parupeneus forsskali (Fourmanoir & Guézé, 1976) was captured by a trammel net at a depth of 30 m from Iskenderun Bay. The occurrence of the Red Sea goatfish P. forsskali was reported for the first time in the Iskenderun Bay and the first captured data for the Turkish marine waters

Phylogenetic Relationships of Turbot Species (Scophthalmidae) Inferred from the Mitochondrial COIII Gene and Morphological Characters

In this study, the validity, distribution and structure of three turbot species, Scophthalmus maeoticus, S. maximus, S. rhombus, belong to Scophthalmidae family in Turkish, Bulgarian and Russian coastal waters were determined with mtDNA sequencing of Cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (COIII). The sequencing of the COIII region revealed 8 bp variable and 6 bp parsimony informative sites between all turbot species. The overall genetic and haplotype diversities among all turbot species were found to be 0.004109 and 0.7655, respectively. Genetic distance analysis showed that the highest nucleotide differences was observed between S. maximus and S. rhombus species with a value of 0.09620 and, the lowest value (0.02482) was observed between S. maximus and S. maeoticus species. Neighbor Joining and Maximum Parsimony phylogenetic approaches resulted in the similar tree topologies that S. maximus and S. maeoticus were found as sister group, whereas S. rhombus was more divergent from this group. The mtDNA COIII gene is a useful genetic marker for species specific identification of the genus Scophthalmus due to its inter-specific heterogeneity producing a species-specific pattern. In morphological analyses, S. rhombus was most differentiated from S. maximus and S. maeoticus. The genetic data was supported by the detected morphometric variations among the turbot species

The second record of the Seychelles dragonet Synchiropus sechellensis in the Northeastern Mediterranean coasts of the Turkey

Two female and one male specimens of the Seychelles dragonet, Synchiropus sechellensis were caught by a commercial trawl at a depths of about 55-65 m on 04 November 2017 from the Aydıncık coast, Turkey. The present paper reports the second record of S. sechellensis in the southeastern coast of Turkey. Morphometric and meristic characters of the the specimens are given with some remarks about the geographical distribution of the species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The present study, S. sechellensis was recorded from a new locality for the coasts of Turkey. The present observation indicates an established population of the species in the southern coast of Turkey

Determination of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Lessepsian Suez Puffer (Lagocephalus suezensis Clark and Gohar, 1953) from North-Eastern Mediterranean

In the present study, the heavy metal concentrations in different organs (skin and muscle tissue) were studied in Lessepsian suez puffer (Lagocephalus suezensis Clark and Gohar, 1953) collected from Iskenderun Bay, North-eastern Mediterranean. Heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni & Zn) were analyzed in different organs for the above mentioned species. The maximum heavy metals concentrations in muscle tissues of the species were Cu 1.750 mg/kg, Fe 18.096 mg/kg, Mn 0.606 mg/kg, Zn 228.571 mg/kg, Cd 2.00 mg/kg, Co 3.571 mg/kg, Cr 0.952 mg/kg, Ni 1.500 mg/kg and Pb 18.095 mg/kg. Zn was detected higher in all the samples followed by Fe, Pb, Co, Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr and Mn. In the present study, heavy metal concentrations were found high in muscle tissues when compared to skin. The Pb, Cd and Zn concentration over the recommended limits was found in Lagocephalus suezensis. Further, this is the first report on distribution of heavy metals and proximate compositions of commercialized important edible pufferfishes from Iskenderun Bay, Turkey