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According to reports, the following 16 species have extended their distribution to other Mediterranean areas or have made a new appearance in other regions. The first category includes the following organisms: The rare and common Indo-Pacific seaweed Codium arabicum (Lebanese coasts), the acari Thalassarachna affinis (Marmara Sea), and the non-indigenous nudibranch Flabellina rubrolineata, which has been found in several areas of the Aegean Sea. In addition, the rare sea slug Thecacera pennigera (Mar Piccolo of Taranto), the fangtooth moray Enchelycore anatina (National Marine Park of Zakynthos, Ionian Sea), the carangid Seriola fasciata (Gulf of Antalya), Lagocephalus sceleratus (SE Ionian Sea), the reticulated leatherjacket Stephanolepis diaspros (Slovenia, N. Adriatic Sea), the marbled stingray, Dasyatis marmorata (NE Levantine), the starry smooth-hound Mustelus asterias (Iskenderun Bay, NE Mediterranean), the cephalopod Ommastrephes bartramii (Ionian Sea) have also been reported. The Atlantic crab Dyspanopeus sayi has expanded to many Italian areas and the blue crab Callinectes sapidus to a lake in N. Greece and in the S. Adriatic Sea. Finally, Farfantepenaeus aztecus has been found in the Ionian Sea, thus showing its wide expansion in the Mediterranean. The larval stages of Faccionella oxyrhyncha have been found, after many years, in the Aegean Sea and the first report of an existence on intersexual acari Litarachna duboscqi in Split (Adriatic Sea) was reported.

On 12 May 2013, a specimen of Lobotes surinamensis of 342 mm of total length was captured in the Raša Bay (Luka cove) on the southern coast of the Istra peninsula in the North Adriatic Sea. This capture would be the most northerly occurrence for the Adriatic and the Mediterranean Sea.

We review the occurrence of leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in the eastern Adriatic Sea based upon museum collections and published literature, and present six new records. Eight out of 13 records (61.5%) derived from fishery bycatch, with gillnets being a dominant threat to leatherbacks in the region. Findings were concentrated between July and September, with a peak (83.3%) in the summer. In total, 30 leatherback records exist for the entire Adriatic Sea. The specimens for which data on the size (carapace length, CL) were available were all large immatures and adults (CL > 120 cm). The most of turtles (70.4%) were found in the summer, in the oceanic zone of the southern Adriatic (63.3%). The number of records in this sub-basin represents 4.5% of the recorded specimens in the entire Mediterranean. Comparing that percentage to the extent of the area relative to Mediterranean, the occurrence of the leatherback recorded in the southern Adriatic is up to 1.5 fold higher of that of the entire Mediterranean Sea. That suggests possible relevance of the southern Adriatic Sea as a summer foraging habitat for leatherbacks within the Mediterranean. Bycatch estimates for the Mediterranean and critically endangered status of the species, coupled with lack of data on the natal origin of the populations emphasize the need for systematic monitoring and data collection in the entire region.

The present paper is a contribution to the first initiative of the Port Baseline Survey (PBS) for Non-indigenous species (NIS) in the Mediterranean Sea. It presents a report on the soft-bottom macrobenthos from the five Adriatic ports: Bari, Ancona (Italy), Koper (Slovenia), Pula, Rijeka (Croatia), with a focus on the presence and contribution of NIS to native assemblages. Out of 451 species identified, only four were common to all ports. A total of eight NIS were recorded, five in surveyed ports and three in the lagoon connected to the Port of Koper. The highest number of NIS was recorded in Bari, and the highest abundance in Ancona and Bari. Generally, the number, abundance and contribution of NIS seems too low to cause a substantial impact on native communities in surveyed ports. The suitability of methods adopted for PBS for soft-bottom NIS was discussed and suggestion for methodological improvement is provided.

14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14670, Climate change and biological invasions are rapidly reshuffling species distribution, restructuring the biological communities of many ecosystems worldwide. Tracking these transformations in the marine environment is crucial, but our understanding of climate change effects and invasive species dynamics is often hampered by the practical challenge of surveying large geographical areas. Here, we focus on the Mediterranean Sea, a hot spot for climate change and biological invasions to investigate recent spatiotemporal changes in fish abundances and distribution. To this end, we accessed the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of small-scale and recreational fishers, reconstructing the dynamics of fish perceived as “new” or increasing in different fishing areas. Over 500 fishers across 95 locations and nine different countries were interviewed, and semiquantitative information on yearly changes in species abundance was collected. Overall, 75 species were mentioned by the respondents, mostly warm-adapted species of both native and exotic origin. Respondents belonging to the same biogeographic sectors described coherent spatial and temporal patterns, and gradients along latitudinal and longitudinal axes were revealed. This information provides a more complete understanding of the shifting distribution of Mediterranean fishes and it also demonstrates that adequately structured LEK methodology might be applied successfully beyond the local scale, across national borders and jurisdictions. Acknowledging this potential through macroregional coordination could pave the way for future large-scale aggregations of individual observations, increasing our potential for integrated monitoring and conservation planning at the regional or even global level. This might help local communities to better understand, manage, and adapt to the ongoing biotic transformations driven by climate change and biological invaders, European Regional Development Fund, Grant/Award Number: MPA‐Adapt 1MED15_3.2_M2_337; Albert II of Monaco Foundation