The first record of the Jinga shrimp, Metapenaeus affinis (H. Milne Edwards, 1837) (Decapoda, Penaeidae) from the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Of the nearly 600 alien marine species of Metazoa that have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, two-thirds have established durable populations of ever larger range (Galil, 2008a, b). The majority of the aliens originate from the Indo Pacific region and have entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal (Ery threan aliens). Nine species of alien penaeid prawns occur in the Levant Basin, eastern Mediterranean, all of them known from the Turkish coast: Marsupenaeus japonicus (Bate, 1888), Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798), Penaeus semi sulcatus De Haan, 1844, Melicertus hathor (Burkenroad, 1959), Metapenaeop sis aegyptia Galil, 1990, Metapenaeopsis mogiensis consobrina (Nobili, 1904), Metapenaeus stebbingi (Nobili, 1904), Trachysalambria palaestinensis (Steinitz, 1932), and Fenneropenaeus merguiensis (De Man, 1888) (cf. Galil, 2008a, b). All the alien penaeids but one (E merguiensis) have entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. The first three species are highly valued commercially and consti tute most of the prawn catch off southeastern Turkey (Duruer et al., 2008). Extensive studies conducted in 2003-2005 of the commercial prawn trammel net fishery targeting the native Mediterranean prawn, Melicertus kerathurus (Forsk?l, 1775) in Izmir Bay, have revealed no alien prawns, either in the landed catch or in the discard (Gok?e & Metin, 2007; Akyol, 2008).