First record of Leucothea multicornis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (Ctenophora: Lobota: Leucotheidae) in the Lebanese coastal waters, eastern Mediterranean Sea – CORRIGENDUM

First record of Leucothea multicornis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) (Ctenophora: Lobota: Leucotheidae) in the Lebanese coastal waters, eastern Mediterranean Sea – CORRIGENDUM

Ghazi Bitar, Ali Badreddine

Published by J. Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment: Vol. 27, No. 1: 117-120 (2021)

Abstract

After the publication of our work, it has been realized that we have erroneously identified the species mentioned in our paper. The investigation of the specimen photos defined critical and distinguished morphological characters, generally not present in Leucothea multicornis (mentioned in our article), represented by the position of the oral lobe begins nearest the aboral extremity of the specimen, and forming long grooves along the animal body (pers. comm. O.M.P. Oliveira). Furthermore, the presence of papillae on the body of the specimen mentioned in the description of the species corresponds to the typical warts of the adult specimen of Mnemiopsis leidyi found in marine waters (out of estuaries), as papillae distinguishing L. multicornis are bigger and more conspicuous (pers. comm. O.M.P. Oliveira). As a result, the species mentioned in our paper was identified as an invader comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi (A. Agassiz, 1865), which is already present in the Lebanese waters. We apologize for the error and for any inconvenience this may have caused.