Range Extension of Priacanthus sagittarius Starnes, 1988 Southeastern Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

Mevlüt Gürlek,Deniz Ergüden,Cemal Turan

doi:10.46384/jmsf.1018275

Abstract

A single specimen of Priacanthus sagittarius Starnes, 1988 has been captured in the Iskenderun Bay (Konacık, Turkey), at a depth of 80 m in February 2021. This species represents the second record from Turkish waters and the first record from southeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Besides, this species is the fifth successive record from the. The presence of P. sagittarius in the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is evidently due to migration from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. On the other hand, available records show that this species is gradually expanding its distribution in the Mediterranean.

Highlights

The opening of Suez Canal in 1869, has provided an important corridor for the bio-invasion of many fish species from the Red Sea penetrating into the Mediterranean Sea
We report the second occurence of P. sagittarus from the Mediterranean waters of Turkey
The previous reports of P. sagittarus from the Mediterranean Sea are given in Table 1 together with the findings of the present study

Summary

Introduction

The opening of Suez Canal in 1869, has provided an important corridor for the bio-invasion of many fish species from the Red Sea penetrating into the Mediterranean Sea. Four Priacanthid species were reported from the Mediterranean; Atlantic bigeye, Priacanthus arenatus Cuvier, 1829. P. hamrur (Forsskål, 1775), Elongate bulleye, P. prolixus Starnes, 1988 and Arrow bulleye, P. sagittarius. P. blotchi Bleeker 1853, a fifth species, is known to live in the Red Sea (Golani, Sonin, & Edelist, 2011), it has not been reported from the Mediterranean waters until now. Priacanthus sagittarius is distributed from the Red Sea to Japan, including Australia and Samoa (Starnes 1988). This species is a solitary fish which is found in sheltered reefs, usually in caves or under coral plates (Kuitar & Tonozuka, 2001) may be found in rocky habitats (Froese & Pauly, 2021)

Methods

Results

Conclusion