On 7 November and 15 December 2006, two specimens of the Lessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonni were caught in trammel nets off the coastal waters of Tricase Porto (southwestern Adriatic, Italy) and Sveti Andrija (southeastern Adriatic, Croatia), respectively. These represent the first records of this species in the Adriatic Sea

DULCIC J

GUIDETTI, Paolo

SCORDELLA G

English

Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca- Università del Salento

Short communicationOn the record of the Lessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonii (Rüppell, 1835) fromthe Adriatic SeaBy J. Dulčić1, G. Scordella2 and P. Guidetti31Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, Croatia; 2Cooperativa Hydra, Lecce, Italy; 3DiSTeBA, University of Salento,Lecce, ItalySummaryOn 7 November and 15 December 2006, two specimens of theLessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonni were caught intrammel nets off the coastal waters of Tricase Porto (south-western Adriatic, Italy) and Sveti Andrija (southeasternAdriatic, Croatia), respectively. These represent the firstrecords of this species in the Adriatic Sea.IntroductionSince the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, there has been aninflux of Red Sea and Indo-Pacific species into the Mediter-ranean Sea, a phenomenon known as Lessepsian migration. Inthe most recent comprehensive account, Golani et al. (2002)enumerated 59 Lessepsian fish species; nine of these specieshave reached the Adriatic Sea (Dulčić et al., 2004).The bluespotted cornetfish Fistularia commersonii (Rüppell,1835), a reef-associated species of minor importance tocommercial fisheries, is widely distributed in the East Pacific,from Mexico to Panama, in southern Japanese, Australian andNew Zealander waters, in East African waters, and in the RedSea (Froese and Pauly, 2003). It was first recorded in theMediterranean Sea in Israeli waters in January 2000 and wasclassified as a new Lessepsian migrant (Golani, 2000).This paper presents the first record and description of theLessepsian migrant bluespotted cornetfish F. commersonii(Rüppell, 1835) in the Adriatic Sea.Results and discussionOn 7 November and 15 December 2006, two specimens of thebluespotted cornetfish (Fig. 1) were caught with trammel netsin the waters off Tricase Porto (southwestern Adriatic, Italy;3955¢N 1823¢E) and off Sveti Andrija (southeastern Adriatic,Croatia; 4239¢ N, 1757¢E), respectively. The Tricase Portospecimen was collected 200 m off the coast at about 20 mdepth, on a rocky bottom interspersed with sandy patches. Thespecimen from Sveti Andrija was caught at a depth of 30 m ona rocky bottom. Both specimens had the typical diagnosticfeatures of F. commersonii [i.e. fin rays: 15 dorsal, 14 anal, 14pectoral, and 6 pelvic; no elongated body plates along thedorsal midline in front and behind the dorsal fin (Golani,2000)]. This species can be distinguished from all otherMediterranean similar-bodied fish by its very long tubularmouth, extremely elongated body shape and whiplike fila-mented caudal middle rays. Brownish to olive in colour, withrows of blue spots and a pair of blue stripes along the back.White belly, fins with orange crest, transparent at base. Totallength (TL) of the F. commersonii collected off Tricase wasTL = 1020 mm, standard length SL = 850 mm and totalweight 530 g, and is preserved at the Pietro ParenzanMuseum of the Porto Cesareo Marine Biology Station. Totallength of the specimen caught off Sveti Andrija wasTL = 1150 mm, standard length SL = 1108 mm and totalweight 1210 g, being the largest F. commersonii caught to datein the Mediterranean Sea. Previous captures were in Israeliwaters: 3 individuals, 268–516 mm SL and 10.3 and 82.5 g(Golani, 2000); Island of Rhodes: 37 individuals, 141–734 mmSL (Corsini et al., 2002); North Aegean Sea, ChalkidikiPeninsula: one individual, 884 mm SL and 448.1 g (Karachleet al., 2004); eastern coast of Lampedusa Island: 1 individual,104.5 cm SL and 1150 g (Azzurro et al., 2004); and Turkishwaters, 3 individuals, 691–728 mm SL (Bilecenoglu et al.,2002). These specimens were not preserved as fishermen tookthem to fish markets, however, they represent the first recordsof F. commersonii in the Adriatic Sea.In 2001 the bluespotted cornetfish was reported to be inconsiderable abundance in the waters off the Island of Rhodes(south-eastern Aegean Island; Corsini et al., 2002). It was thenrecorded on the Anatolian coast of Turkey (Bilecenoglu et al.,2002), Tunisian coast (Ben Souissi et al., 2004), southern Italy(Azzurro et al., 2004) including the Sicilian Canal (Fiorentinoet al., 2004) and northwestern Sicily (Pipitone et al., 2004), aswell as the Island of Sardinia (Italy) in the central TyrrhenianSea (Pais et al., 2006). Because of its rapid spread throughoutthe Mediterranean it was nicknamed the Lessepsian sprinter(Karachle et al., 2004). A piscivorous species, F. commersoniialso feeds on small crustaceans [e.g. mysids, euphasiids, crabs,and other benthic crustaceans (Froese and Pauly, 2003)], and isconsidered to be a higher order carnivore (Stergiou andKarpouzi, 2002). These records of bluespotted cornetfish onboth coasts of the Adriatic Sea do not allow with confidenceany comments as to whether the species has established apopulation in the sea basin. In any event, the impact of thepossible successful colonization by these and other exotic fishspecies would, at a minimum, represent a significant change inthe composition of the native ichthyofauna. The rapid rate ofnorthward expansion of the bluespotted cornetfish and veryhigh abundance attained in the past 6 years in Mediterraneanwaters implies that such colonization in the Adriatic mighttake place in the near future, with the potential for significanteffects on local fish communities.J. Appl. Ichthyol. 24 (2008), 101–102 2007 The AuthorsJournal compilation  2007 Blackwell Verlag, BerlinISSN 0175–8659Received: January 5, 2007Accepted: May 15, 2007doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2007.01022.xU.S. Copyright Clearance Centre Code Statement: 0175–8659/2008/2401–0101$15.00/0 www.blackwell-synergy.comAcknowledgementsWe are grateful to the fishermen R. Cazzato, who provided thespecimen from Tricase Porto, and D. Lopin, who provided thespecimen from Sveti Andrija for photos and basic measure-ments. The first author is also thankful to the Ministry ofScience, Education and Sport of Republic of Croatia forfinancial support.ReferencesAzzurro, E.; Pizzicori, P.; Andaloro, F., 2004: First record of Fistulariacommersonii from the Central Mediterranean. Cybium 28, 72–74.Ben Souissi, J.; Zaouali, J.; Bradai, M. N.; Quignard, J. P., 2004:Lessepsian migrant fishes off the coast of Tunisia. Dirst record ofFistularia commersonii (Osteichthyes, Fistularidae) and Para-exocoetus mento (Osteichthyes, Exocoetidae). Vie et Milieu 54,247–248.Bilecenoglu, M.; Taskavak, E.; Kunt, K. B., 2002: Range extension ofthree lessepsian migrant fish (Fistularia comerssoni, Sphyraenaflavicauda, Lagocephalus suezensis) in the Mediterranean Sea.J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K. 82, 525–526.Corsini, M.; Kondilatos, G.; Economidis, P. S., 2002: Lessepsianmigrant Fistularia commersonii from the Rhodes marine area.J. Fish Biol. 61, 1061–1062.Dulčić, J.; Grbec, B.; Lipej, L.; Beg-Paklar, G.; Supić, N.; Smirčić, A.,2004: The effect of the hemispheric climatic oscillations on theAdriatic ichthyofauna. Fresenius Environ. Bull. 13 (3B), 293–298.Fiorentino, F.; Giusto, G. B.; Sinacori, G.; Norrito, G., 2004: Firstrecord of Fistularia commersonii (Fistularidae, Pisces) in the straitof Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). Biol. Mar. Medit. 11, 583–585.Froese, R.; Pauly D., (Eds.) 2003: FishBase. World Wide WebElectronic Publication. Available at: http://www.fishbase.orgGolani, D., 2000: First record of bluespotted cornetfish from theMediterranean Sea. J. Fish Biol. 56, 1545–1547.Golani, D.; Orsi-Relini, L.; Massutı́, E.; Quignard, J.-P., 2002: CIESMatlas of exotic species in the Mediterranean. In: Fishes, Vol. 1. F.Briand (Ed.). CIESM Publisher, Monaco. 256 pp.Karachle, P.K.; Triantaphyllids, C.; Stergiou, K. I., 2004: Bluespottedcornetfish, Fistularia commersonii Rüppell, 1838: a lessepsiansprinter. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 34, 103–108.Pais, A.; Merella, P.; Follesa, M. C.; Garippa, G., 2006: Westwardrange expansion of the Lessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonii(Fistulariidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, with notes on itsparasites. J. Fish Biol. 70, 269–277.Pipitone, C.; DAnna, G.; Coppola, M.; Di Stefano, G.; Badalamenti,F., 2004: First record of the lessepsian fish Fistularia commersoniiin the western Mediterranean. 35th Symp. SIBM, Italian MarineBiology Society, Onlus, Genoa, 19–21 July 2004. Biol. Mar.Medit. 11, 327.Stergiou, K. I.; Karpouzi, V. S., 2002: Feeding habits and trophiclevels of Mediterranean fish. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 11, 217–254.Authors address: Jakov Dulčić, Institute of Oceanography andFisheries, POB 500, CR-21000 Split, Croatia.E-mail: dulcic@izor.hr(a)(b)Fig. 1. Fistularia commersonni specimens: (a) (TL = 1150 mm)caught near Sveti Andrija Island (southeastern Adriatic, Croatia);(b) (TL = 1020 mm) caught in waters off Tricase Porto (southwesternAdriatic, Italy)102 J. Dulčić, G. Scordella and P. Guidetti

On the record of the Lessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonii (Rüppell, 1835) from the  Adriatic Sea

https://iris.unisalento.it/bitstream/11587/108172/1/Dulcic%20et%20al%20J%20Appl%20Ichthyol.pdf

On the record of the Lessepsian migrant Fistularia commersonii (Rüppell, 1835) from the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca- Università del Salento