New record of diamondback puffer Lagocephalus guentheri Miranda Ribeiro, 1915 from the North-Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey

Deniz Erguden,Ferhat Kabakli,Cemal Turan,Servet Ahmet Doğdu,Ali Uyan,Mevlut Gurlek,Serpil Karan

doi:10.28978/nesciences.369554

Abstract

One specimen of the diamondback puffer fish, Lagocephalus guentheri (33.7 cm, TL) was caught by a commercial trammel net at a depth of 37 m on 12 May 2017 from the Arsuz coast, Turkey. The present paper is the first report of L. guentheri from the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Morphometric and meristics characters of our specimens are given and some remarks about the geographical distribution of the species in the all around the Mediterranean is presented. Although L. guentheri is recorded in the Mediterranean Sea and have been reported from the North-eastern Aegean waters of Turkey. The present study, L. guentheri was recorded for the first time from the northeastern Mediterranean, Turkey (Iskenderun Bay). The present of this species in the Mediterranean is propably due to migration from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal.

Highlights

IntroductionThis species usually occur in shallow waters (Frose & Pauly, 2017)
The family Tetraodontidae is represented in the Mediterranean Sea by five genera and ten species (Tortonese, 1986; Vacchi et al, 2007; Mastsuura et al, 2011; Farrag et al, 2016): Ephippion guttiferum (Bennett, 1831), Lagocephalus guentheri Miranda Ribeiro, 1915, LagocephalusThe diamondback puffer, Lagocephalus guentheri is found from the Indo West Pasific to the Red Sea and Southwest Atlantic
L. guentheri is closely related to L. spadiceus and L. gloveri

Summary

Introduction

This species usually occur in shallow waters (Frose & Pauly, 2017). To date several alien puffer fish species that have penetrated the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and Straits of Gibraltar (Bilecenoglu, 2003; Akyol et al, 2005; Turan et al, 2010; Erguden et al, 2011; Turan & Yaglioglu, 2011). The increase in water temperature has been considered as the main reason for the increasing introductions of alien fish species in the Mediterranean Sea (Ben Rais Lasram et al, 2010, Golani, 2010, Turan et al, 2016)

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Results

Conclusion