The zoogeographic distribution patterns of Red Sea fish species: is there a correlation between wide distribution and success in colonization of the Mediterranean?

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The zoogeographic distribution patterns of Red Sea fish species: is there a correlation between wide distribution and success in colonization of the Mediterranean? Daniel Golani1*, Ronald Fricke2 and Brenda Appelbaum-Golani1 1 Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel 2 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany Several studies have tried to correlate different traits of Red Sea fish species with their success in colonizing the Mediterranean, via the Suez Canal (Lessepsian migration). Recently, Golani and Fricke (2018) published a comprehensive checklist of the Red Sea fishes, numerating 1209 species and providing, inter alia, distribution patterns for each species, e.g. Red Sea endemic, Arabian Gulf, Western Indian Ocean, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific or cosmopolitan. A comparison of the distribution patterns of all Red Sea fish species to those of the Lessepsian migrant fish species showed no preference to any particular distribution pattern; this comparison excluded the 13 "Anti-Lessepsian" fish species that migrated from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. These results negate the hypothesis that species with wide geographic distribution have an advantage over other species in success of colonization, despite the formers' experience of a wide range of environments that could serve theoretically as pre-adaptation to success in colonizing a new environment. It is therefore suggested that the most important trait determining success in Lessepsian colonization is the species' high abundance and high biomass in their native habitat that is similar to vulnerable habitats in the target area in the Mediterranean. References Golani, D. and R. Fricke, 2018 Checklist of the Red Sea Fishes with delineation of the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, endemism and Lessepsian migrants. Zootaxa 4509(1): 1-215. Keywords: Red Sea, Fishes, Zoogeography IceAGE, Lessepsian fish species, colonization Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: TAXONOMY, PHYLOGENY AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY Citation: Golani D, Fricke R and Appelbaum-Golani B (2019). The zoogeographic distribution patterns of Red Sea fish species: is there a correlation between wide distribution and success in colonization of the Mediterranean?. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00098 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 10 May 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Mx. Daniel Golani, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, dani.golani@mail.huji.ac.il Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Daniel Golani Ronald Fricke Brenda Appelbaum-Golani Google Daniel Golani Ronald Fricke Brenda Appelbaum-Golani Google Scholar Daniel Golani Ronald Fricke Brenda Appelbaum-Golani PubMed Daniel Golani Ronald Fricke Brenda Appelbaum-Golani Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.