Occurrence of Schedophilus ovalis (Cuvier, 1833) (Osteichthyes: Centrolophidae) in the North-Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey

Abstract

The genus Schedophilus is represented by two species, Schedophilus medusophagus Coco, 1839 and Schedophilus ovalis (Cuvier, 1833), in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea. The imperial blackfish S. ovalis is a subtropical species with a wide geographic distribution reported from the eastern Atlantic (Spain southwards to Madeira), western central Atlantic (Bermuda), and the Mediterranean (Haedrich, 1990; Froese and Pauly, 2012). Occasionally found on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, S. ovalis was recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea in 1987 (Bauchot, 1987), and later reported in Greek waters along the south coasts of Crete (Papaconstantinou, 1988). The species has been recorded several times from Mediterranean waters by Orsi-Relini et al., 1990; Dulcic et al., 2003, 2004; Francour and Javel, 2003; Follesa et al., 2006; Psomadakis et al., 2006. S. ovalis was reported in May 2008 from the islands of Chios and Ikaria (Aegean Sea, Greek coastal waters) (Corsini-Foka and Frantzis, 2009). Although recorded only from Urla (Izmir Bay) on the Aegean Sea coast of Turkey (Bilecenoglu et al., 2002), documentation between 2000 and 2010 of S. ovalis in the Mediterranean Sea is given in Table 1. The finding of S. ovalis described in the present paper is a first documentation for the north-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, and the second occurrence in Turkish waters.