Search

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.

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., 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.