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Of the 452 multicellular non-indigenous species (NIS) recorded off the Israeli Mediterranean coast, nearly 90% are considered to have been introduced through the Suez Canal (Erythraean NIS). The Israeli shelf serves as an important way station and breeding ground for Erythraean NIS, with 260 and 91 species already recorded in the greater Levant Sea and Central Mediterranean, respectively. The positive relationship between time since first record and spread indicates that Erythraean NIS populations may not be at equilibrium and are likely to spread further. Thus, the greater NIS numbers recorded in the past half century augur a sizable invasion debt. A review of the policy of the State of Israel concerning marine NIS, as reflected in recent official documents and regulations, reveals how these enhance their establishment, proliferation and spread in Israeli waters and in waters under the jurisdiction of other Mediterranean States. The continued role of the enlarged Suez Canal as corridor for invasion, and the increasing temperature of Mediterranean seawater, portend unceasing propagule pressure and likely rising establishment success of species not yet introduced. Recognition that factors driving the introduction and establishment of marine NIS are increasing, and the large-sized accrued invasion debt, impel us to urge the Contracting Parties to Barcelona Convention to undertake prevention and control measures to curb marine introductions into the Mediterranean Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine representatives of Phytomyxea (SAR: Rhizaria: Endomyxa), a peculiar class of obligate endobiotic parasites, are a greatly understudied ecological group of protists infecting many algal, diatom, and seagrass species. Very little is known about the actual diversity, ecology, and pathogenic potential of these organisms and their taxonomic treatment in many cases follows outdated morphotaxonomic concepts. Here we focused on resolving the phylogenetic relations of the phytomyxean parasites of the widespread seagrass genus Halophila. We report the first finding of Plasmodiophora halophilae, the parasite of ovate-leaf Halophila species, after more than 100 years since its original description in 1913. We provide additional information on its anatomy, morphology, distribution, and host range, together with a phylogenetic evidence that it is congeneric with the recently rediscovered species infecting the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the previously hypothesized affiliation of the latter to Tetramyxa, our phylogenetic analyses of the 18S rRNA gene place Tetramyxa parasitica (a parasite of brackish water phanerogams and the type species of the genus) in the freshwater/terrestrial phytomyxean order Plasmodiophorida and reveal that phytomyxids associated with Halophila spp. form a separate deep-branching clade within the class proposed here as Marinomyxa gen. nov. We further argue that M. marina infecting H. stipulacea is most likely a species-specific parasite and implies their comigration through the Suez Canal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tropical western Atlantic caprellid Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Caprellidae) is reported in the eastern Mediterranean for the first time. Individuals were collected in the southern coast of Israel associated with drifting colonies of the bryozoan Bugula neritina and with Bugula colonies attached to a submerged kurkar ridge. The species has been recorded previously from marinas in the western Mediterranean. This new record suggests that P. pusilla may also be present in other localities of the Mediterranean and represents the first non-native caprellid species for the coast of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After publication of the above mentioned article, previously undisclosed material was made available resulting in an altered population status for the below mentioned species: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]