The alien lionfish, Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828), enters the Adriatic Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea

05/07/2021 Arda Tonay

The alien lionfish, Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828), enters the Adriatic Sea, Central Mediterranean Sea

Vincenzo Di Martino, Bessy Stancanelli

ORCID IDs: V.D.M. 0000-0002-5987-0954; B.S. 0000-0001-7126-0633

CNR/ISAFOM, via Empedocle n° 58; 95128 Catania, ITALY
Aqua Stories, via Vampolieri n° 25; 95022 Aci Catena, ITALY

Abstract

The lionfish Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828), is considered one of the most dangerous invasive species for the Mediterranean biome. Since its first sighting back in 1991, the species spread widely along the Levantine Basin, in the central Mediterranean, along the North African coasts (from Egypt to Tunisia) and in Sicily. This paper reports the first sightings of the lionfish from the Adriatic Sea, in the coasts of Puglia and Albania, observed during July 2019 and August 2020.

Keywords: Pterois miles, northward dispersal, Puglia, Albania, Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean Sea

pdf-dl icon

References

Albins, M.A., Hixon, M.A. (2008) Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) reduce recruitment of Atlantic coral-reef fishes. MEPS 367: 233-238.

D’Amen, M., Azzurro, E. (2020) Lessepsian fish invasion in Mediterranean marine protected areas: a risk assessment under climate change scenarios. ICES Journal of Marine Science 77: 388-397.

Golani, D., Sonin, O. (1992) New records of the Red Sea fishes, Pterois miles (Scorpaenidae) and Pteragogus pelycus (Labridae) from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 39(2): 167-169.

Huseyinoglu, M.F., Demir, V., Arda, Y., Draman, M., Yokes, M.B. (2021) Spatiotemporal distribution of lionfish, Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828) in Kas-Kekova Special Environmental Protection Area, Turkey. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107331.

Katsanevakis, S., Zenetos, A., Belchior, C., Cardoso, A.C. (2013) Invading European seas: assessing pathways of introduction of marine aliens. Ocean Coast Manag 76: 64-74.

Kletou, D., Hall-Spencer, J.M., Kleitou, P. (2016) A lionfish (Pterois miles) invasion has begun in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Biodiversity Records 9: 46.

Spinos, E., Vavasis, C., Simotas, G., Konstantinidis, E., Kondylatos, G., Perdikaris, C. (2016) Recent records of invasive alien and range expanding species in the coastal zone of Kefalonia and Ithaca islands, Greece. Proceedings of the 16th Panhellenic Congress of Ichthyologists, Kavala, Greece, 6–9 October 2016, pp. 173-176 (in Greek with English abstract).

Turan, C. (2020) Species distribution modelling of invasive alien species; Pterois miles for current distribution and future suitable habitats. Global J Environ Sci Manage 6(4): 429-440.

Whitfield, P.E., Muñoz, R.C., Buckel, C.A., Degan, B.P., Freshwater, D.W., Hare, J. (2014) Native fish community structure and Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans densities along a depth-temperature gradient in Onslow Bay, North Carolina, USA. MEPS 509: 241-254.