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Since 2014, an invasive alien fish species, lionfish, Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828) has been started to distribute in the Turkish Mediterranean Sea coasts and spread out to the Aegean Sea. In the present study, a Cymothoid fish parasite, Nerocila bivittata (Risso, 1816) is reported from the pectoral fin of P. miles caught from the Gulf of Iskenderun (Northeastern Mediterranean) and Bodrum, Turkey (Aegean Sea Coast). This study is the first record of N. bivittata on lionfish P. miles caught from Gulf of Iskenderun. Key diagnostic characters of N. bivittata, some morphological differences observed between the newly collected material of N. bivittata and its previous descriptions, in addition to newly observed additional characters were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the majority of marine debris consists of microplastic particles. For that reason, microplastic pollution in marine environments and its potential impacts on marine animals has been extensively studied. This study was developed to investigate the bioindicator potential of Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828) for the monitoring of microplastic pollution. A totally, 21 individuals were sampled from Iskenderun Bay, northeastern Mediterranean Sea on April 2022, and their gastrointestinal tracts were examined for microplastic occurrence. Mean microplastic abundance was found as 2.06±1.88 particles/individual in positive samples and 1.47±1.83 particles/individual in total samples. The microplastic detection rate was estimated as 71%. In terms of color, black (55%), blue (32%), red (10%) and brown (3%) microplastic particles were detected. Among all, the majority of the extracted particles were fiber in shape (93%) and followed by fragments (7%). The high frequency of detection and microplastic abundance estimated in this study showed that this specie could be used to monitor microplastic pollution in marine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pen shell Pinna nobilis is distributed in the northwest area of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. In this study, on September 9, 2020, one specimen of Pinna nobilis was observed during scuba diving at 16 m depth from Samandag coast (36.259444° N, 35.810111° E) in the northeastern Mediterranean. In this region, the presence of P. nobilis has never been previously recorded, and this new record confirms the presence of a new location in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lionfish Pterois miles (Bennett 1828) was observed by scuba diving in August 2015 at 11 m depth on sandy bottom in Dalyan on the Aegean Sea coast of Turkey. This is a lessepsian species entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. All urgent measures such as killing, eliminating and fishing are proposed to avoid the expansion of this venomous fish species in the Turkish waters and adjacent area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphologic and genetic variations of Engraulis encrasicolus (L. 1758) were studied based on morphometric, meristic and allozyme analyses. Samples were collected throughout the Black, Marmara and Aegean Seas. Discriminant function analysis of both morphometric and meristic characters indicated the existence of four morphologically differentiated groups of E. encrasicolus. The Aegean Sea and Marmara Sea samples were the most isolated from all others for morphometric and meristic characters. Genetic analyses indicated great variability but suggested low levels of differentiation in the eastern Black Sea samples. However, the low genetic distance between this and other samples suggests the existence of hybridization between the Azov and eastern Black Sea populations. Nonetheless, genetic analysis showed that these levels were significant and the population structure should be analysed using markers able to detect a greater degree of population differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]