First and northernmost record of Upeneus moluccensis (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Mullidae) from the Sea of Marmara

M Levent Artüz,Ronald Fricke

doi:10.3750/aiep/02527

Abstract

The goldband goatfish, Upeneus moluccensis (Bleeker, 1855), is an Indo-West Pacific species, which has been reported as a Lessepsian migrant from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The species has expanded its distribution range in the Mediterranean; individuals have been recorded from Israel, Lebanon, Libya, the south coast of Turkey, and the Aegean Sea. The aim of this study was to report the presence of U. moluccensis in the Sea of Marmara. The history of the Mediterranean records and the presence in the Sea of Marmara are discussed. A specimen of Upeneus moluccensis was collected with a beam trawl at 58 m depth, off Aksaz, the western Sea of Marmara during the MAREM (Marmara Environmental Monitoring) survey, on 21 June 2017. The fish (a female) was subjected to standard descriptive procedures and subsequently deposited in the collection of the MAREM (Marmara Environmental Monitoring) project, with the catalogue number LAR-182. Upeneus moluccensis is recorded for the first time from the Sea of Marmara, which expands its distributional range westward in the Mediterranean Sea (Aegean Sea). This new distribution record of Upeneus moluccensis also represents the global northernmost record of the species. The previous northernmost record was from 38°53′N in the northern Aegean Sea, and from about 35°12′N in its natural range (southern Japan).

Highlights

Upeneus moluccensis was first reported from theThe family Mullidae includes six valid genera (Fricke Mediterranean coast of Israel by Haas and Steinitz (1947)et al 2018), five of which are present in the north-eastern and Ben-Tuvia (1953), misidentified as “MulloidesAtlantic and the Mediterranean, Mulloidichthys, Mullus, auriflamma”
2nd Dorsal fin DISCUSSION The meristic, morphometric, and colouration characters of the specimen from the Sea of Marmara are in accordance with the descriptions of Upeneus moluccensis by Hureau (1986), Golani et al (2002), and Uiblein and Heemstra (2010)
Though the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, Upeneus moluccensis was first recorded from the Canal by Gruvel (1936)

Summary

Introduction

Upeneus moluccensis was first reported from theThe family Mullidae includes six valid genera (Fricke Mediterranean coast of Israel by Haas and Steinitz (1947)et al 2018), five of which are present in the north-eastern and Ben-Tuvia (1953), misidentified as “MulloidesAtlantic and the Mediterranean, Mulloidichthys, Mullus, auriflamma (non Forsskål, 1775)”. Parupeneus, Pseudupeneus, and Upeneus, comprising one, U. moluccensis has become a commercially important two, one, one, and two species, respectively; the genera demersal species, living in shoals in sandy-muddy or Parupeneus and Upeneus are only represented by Lessepsian muddy habitats at depths between 20 and 130 m. The genera Upeneus includes a total of 39 valid abundant in the eastern Levantine Sea (Golani et al 2002), species, with 10 species known from the Red Sea (Golani and and is heavily fished (Erguden et al 2010). Upeneus moluccensis (Bleeker, 1855) and Upeneus moluccensis extends in the Mediterranean Sea from

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