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Darter goby, Ctenogobius boleosoma (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882), is a small euryhaline fish of the Gobiidae family (Gobiiformes). It is naturally found in the shallow marine and brackish waters of the Western Central Atlantic. This study reports the first record of C. boleosoma in the Mediterranean Sea. In August and October 2019, two postflexion stage larvae were sampled during ichthyoplankton surveys in Antalya Bay in the Northeastern Mediterranean. The larvae were identified using the barcoding of cytochrome oxidase 1 gene sequence of mitochondrial DNA (COI). The morphology of the pre-transitional stage larvae was described and compared to previously published data. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that two distinct clades of C. boleosoma exist in its distribution range. The COI records belonging to one of the clades were generally collected within the Caribbean Sea, while the others were collected primarily in North American Western Atlantic waters from Florida to North Carolina. The average divergence between the clades was calculated to be 9.36 ± 1.34 (± 95% confidence interval), which likely indicates the existence of undescribed species. The specimen from the Mediterranean was identified as most closely related to the North American clade. This study shows how the integrative taxonomy of ichthyoplankton can improve knowledge about non-indigenous fish in the Mediterranean.

This Collective Article presents new information about the occurrence of 20 taxa that belong to six Phyla: one Cnidaria, one Ctenophora, two Annelida, four Mollusca, two Arthropoda, and ten Chordata. These records were reported from ten countries from the western to the eastern Mediterranean Sea as follows: Spain: early colonization signs of the Mar Menor lagoon by the cigar jellyfish Olindias muelleri; France: second record of the sea chub of the genus Kyphosus in French Mediterranean waters; Italy: first record of the marbled crab Pachygrapsus maurus in Sardinian waters; first records of the polychaetes Malmgrenia polypapillata and Levinsenia tribranchiata in the Tyrrhenian Sea; new record of the deep-sea squid Ancistrocheirus lesueurii in the Tyrrhenian Sea; first record of the pignosed arrowtooth eel Dysomma brevirostre in the Adriatic Sea; Tunisia: first documented record of the blue butterfish Stromateus fiatola and new record of the iconic great white shark Carcharodon carcharias in the Gulf of Gabes; Slovenia: first records of the sea slug Diaphorodoris alba and the sharpnose sevengill shark Heptranchias perlo; Montenegro: new record of the rare tope shark Galeorhinus galeus; Greece: new records of the rabbitfish Chimaera monstrosa and the electric ray Tetronarce nobiliana; first published record of the nuribranch Discodoris rosi; Turkey: first record of the ctenophore Hormiphora plumosa at country level; first records of the anomuran decapod Munida speciosa and the Mediterranean tripodfish, Bathypterois mediterraneus from the Levantine Sea; Cyprus: first documented record of the nuribranch Scyllaea pelagica; Lebanon: first record of the killer whale Orcinus orca from the Levantine Sea.

The retention-releasing patterns of the double-grid grating sieve placed on the deck of the purse seiners were revealed for four case species (Sardina pilchardus, Sardinella aurita, Engraulis encrasicolus and Boops boops) using a simulated data predicted from total length (TL) – maximum height (Hmax) and TL – maximum width (Wmax) regressions. To calculate these relationships, samples were collected during commercial purse seine operations between 3 April 2017 and 21 March 2018 in Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea (Turkey). Optimal Bar Spacing (OBS) values corresponding to minimum landing sizes or the length at first maturity were calculated separately for each species. OBS values were found 10.97 mm for sardine (Sardina pilchardus), 11.29 mm for round sardine (Sardinella aurita), 7.78 mm for anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and 17.89 mm for bogue (Boops boops). The bar spacing regulations may constitute a promising management measure to release undersized fish for the purse seine fishery in the Aegean Sea., Gırgır teknelerinin güvertesine yerleştirilen çift ızgaralı eleğin alıkoyma-bırakma özellikler dört tür (Sardina pilchardus, Sardinella aurita, Engraulis encrasicolus ve Boops boops) için toplam uzunluk (TL) - maksimum yükseklik (Hmax) ve TL - maksimum genişlik (Wmax) ilişkilerinden tahmin edilerek ele alınmıştır. Bu ilişkileri ortaya çıkarmak için, 3 Nisan 2017 ile 21 Mart 2018 tarihleri arasında İzmir Körfezi'nde (Türkiye) gırgır örneklemeleri yapılmıştır. Ele alınan türler için regresyon eşitlikleri tanımlandıktan sonra, Sechin'in seçicilik yaklaşımının bir uyarlaması kullanılarak, her bir türün farklı çubuk aralığındaki elekler tarafından yakalanma olasılıkları hesaplanmıştır. Sonrasında minimum yasal boy ya da ilk eşeysel olgunluk boyuna karşılık gelen optimal elek çubuk aralığı (OEÇA) değerleri, her tür için ayrı ayrı hesaplanmıştır. OEÇA değerleri sardalya (Sardina pilchardus) için 10.97 mm, yuvarlak sardalya (Sardinella aurita) için 11.29 mm, hamsi (Engraulis encrasicolus) için 7.78 mm ve kupes (Boops boops) için 17.89 mm olarak bulunmuştur. Çubuk aralığı düzenlemeleri, Ege Denizi’ndeki gırgır avcılığı için yakalama boyunun altındaki balıkların serbest bırakılması için umut verici bir yönetim önlemi olabilir.

Bu çalışmada doğal ortamdan toplanan hamsi (Engraulis encrasicolus) larvalarının günlük büyüme özellikleri otolit mikro-yapısı analizlerine dayalı olarak incelenmiştir. Örnekler 21-22 Nisan 2017 tarihlerinde İskenderun Körfezi’ndeki 30 istasyondan oblik Bongo-60 Net çekimleri ile toplanmış olup, -20 °C’de muhafaza edilerek laboratuvara taşınmıştır. Sonrasında, stereo trinoküler mikroskop kullanılarak teşhis edilen hamsi larvalarının sagittal otolitleri polarize ışık altında çıkarılmış ve Crystalbond 509 reçine kullanılarak lamlar üzerine sabitlenmiştir. Ardından, Olympus BX60 ışık mikroskobunda 100x büyütme altında fotoğraflanan otolitlerin günlük büyüme halkaları sayılmış (A; gün), halkalar arasındaki mesafelerin yanı sıra otolit alanı, çapı ve yarı çapı (OR; m) ölçülmüştür. Örneklemeler esnasında deniz suyu sıcaklığı 17.15 ila 20.52 °C (17.96 ± 0.02 °C; ortalama ± %95 güven aralığı) arasındadır. Çalışma kapsamında standart boyları (SL) 2.78 ila 18.61 mm (8.24 ± 3.35 mm; ortalama ± standart sapma) arasında değişen 76 adet larva incelenmiştir. Aynı bireyden çıkarılan sağ ve sol sagittal otolitten okunan yaş değerleri (t=0.22, p=0.83), otolitlerin alanı (t=0.01; p=0.99), çapı (t=-0.37; p=0.73) ve yarıçapı (t=-0.19; p=0.86) arasındaki farklar istatistiksel açıdan önemli bulunmamıştır. Otolit yarıçapı ile standart boy arasındaki ilişki OR=0.33SL1.87 (quasi- R2=0.95) eşitliği ile tanımlanmıştır. Hamsi sagittal otolitlerinin günlük büyümesi OR=0.95A1.24 (quasi- R2=0.88) ilişkisiyle tanımlanmış olup, otolit büyüme sabitinin %95’lik güven aralığı %1.05-1.45 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Boyca büyüme modeli SL=2.87+0.47A (R2=0.85) şeklinde tanımlanmış olup, boyca büyüme sabitinin %95’lik güven aralığı 0.41-0.52 mm/gün olarak hesaplanmıştır.

The Pope‟s ponyfish Equulites popei (Whitley, 1932) is a marine fish native to the wide Indo-Pacific area and is considered an alien species in the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 10 individuals were collected, in May 2019, from Antalya Bay (Turkey, northwestern Levant Basin). These records represent the westernmost occurrence of the fish in the Mediterranean Sea. We also provide information on its catch per unit area (27 ind.km-2) and the maximum depth of its occurrence (150 m) in the Mediterranean Sea

This article includes 23 new records of alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to 4 Phyla (Chordata, Echinodermata, Arthropoda and Mollusca), distributed from the Alboran to the Levantine Sea. Records are reported from eight countries listed from West to East as follows: Algeria: new records of the Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus; Spain: further spread and establishment of the sea slug Lamprohaminoea ovalis in continental shores; Tunisia: first record of the Atlantic Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Gulf of Gabes; Italy: a new occurrence of the pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus in Northern Ionian waters; first record of Cephalopholis taeniops in the Ionian Sea; first record of the redlip blenny, Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea; Slovenia: first record of the isopod Paranthura japonica in Slovenia; Greece: first record of the molluscs Eunaticina papilla, Plocamopherus ocellatus and the fish Cheilodipterus novemstriatus; first record of the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata in Kriti; the long-spined sea urchin Diadema setosum in the Ionian Sea; Turkey: first record of the sea spider Ammothea hilgendorfi; the stomatopod Cloridina cf. ichneumon; the fishes Pempheris rhomboidea from the Sea of Marmara and Paranthias furcifer from the Aegean Sea; Lebanon: new records of the fishes Arothron hispidus, Rachycentron canadum, Heniochus intermedius and Acanthurus monroviae; first record of Acanthostracion polygonius. The records of Cloridina cf. ichneumon from southern Turkey and the fish Acanthostracion polygonius from Lebanon, both being the first Mediterranean records, are noteworthy.

This paper reports the range extension of Kyphosus vaigiensis in the northeastern (NE) Mediterranean. On 18 November, 2018, a single specimen of K. vaigiensis was caught in İskenderun Bay (36°45.6' N, 35°40.8' E) by a recreational fisherman and reported through a social media application. The specimen was identified using morphological and molecular methods. Its occurrence and distribution in the NE Mediterranean were investigated based on interviews with fishers.Sea chubs (Kyphosidae, Kyphosus) currently consist of 12 species (Knudsen and Clements, 2013, 2016, 2019) occurring in tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans (Sakai and Nakabo, 1995, 2014; Knudsen and Clements, 2013). They generally inhabit shallow waters of less than 10 m deep in various habitats like reefs, seagrass meadows, and sandy bottoms (Nelson, 2006). Moreover, juveniles are commonly found in nearby floating algae or below flotsam (Knudsen and Clements, 2013). Sea chubs are strictly herbivorous, mainly feeding on macroalgae (Knudsen and Clements, 2013). Although they are considered popular game fish, they have low economic importance because of their characteristic bad odor and taste (Bae et al., 2008).

WOS: 000455896600003, In this study, the diet composition and trophic ecology of four demersal chondrichthyan species; Etmopterus spinax, Galeus melastomus, Scyliorhinus canicula and Squalus blainville were studied in the eastern Aegean Sea. In the stomachs of the samples which mostly consisted of juvenile individuals, a total of 97 prey taxa were identified. Teleost fishes were the most important prey group. The diversity of stomach content ranged between 15 species in E. spinax. and 70 species in S. canicula. The dietary breadth of G. melastomus and S. canicula were found to be narrower than the other two species examined. In addition, high niche overlap scores were detected amongst the species. All of the examined species had trophic levels higher than 4; with the highest trophic level being 4.20 and belonging to E. spinax. Comparisons among calculated trophic levels by global methods and a regional weighted method, which is proposed in this study, showed that the regional method offers remarkable advantages that can be used to reduce the uncertainty of the estimations., TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [2209], Authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alp SALMAN for identification of cephalopod remains. Part of the study was supported by TUBITAK under the grant program 2209.

WOS: 000422953000009, Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming areas on Earth and coastal areas of the region are foremost affected. Here we present the state of coastal plankton assemblages of the Galindez Island and Neumayer Channel, Western Antarctic Peninsula in austral autumn (April 2016). Surface water temperatures were ranged between -0.12 degrees C and -0.97 degrees C and average chlorophyll-a concentrations were 0.65 mu g/l. A total of 50 phytoplankton and 24 zooplankton taxa (15 copepods and 9 meroplanktonic species) were identified during the sampling period. Diatom species (78%) predominated phytoplankton and the highest abundance was 820 cells l(-1), while the highest number of phytoplankton species was 42. Zooplankton was prevailed by the dominance of copepods, except contribution of meroplankton at the Neumayer channel. Highest zooplankton abundance was 101 ind.m(-3). The sampling season was the transition period from the productive spring-summer to dormant winter conditions, which explains the low abundances registered, however, on contrary to low cell abundances, diversity was high within plankton., Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Istanbul UniversityIstanbul University [FOA-2016-20530]; Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Kocaeli UniversityKocaeli University [KOU-BAPB-2016/026]; Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Cukurova UniversityCukurova University [FBA-2016-6205]; first joint Turkish-Ukrainian Antarctic Research Expedition, This work is supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Istanbul University (FOA-2016-20530), Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Kocaeli University (KOU-BAPB-2016/026), Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Cukurova University (FBA-2016-6205) and the first joint Turkish-Ukrainian Antarctic Research Expedition. Authors thank the captain and crew of M/V Ushuaia, as well as the Turkish and Ukrainian authorities for their valuable help and support.