CIESM Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea

Carcharhinus melanopterus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824)
Although this species was reported by Tortonese (1951) in the Mediterranean, based on observations from the coast of Egypt, no specimen has been preserved. Ben-Tuvia (1966) remarked that the superficial appearance of this species, especially its black fin tips, are characteristic of other indigenous closely-related species, such as C. brevipinnai. Despite Ben-Tuvia's statement, the occurrence of C. melanopterus has been cited in major works (Branstetter, 1984; Compagno, 1984).

SQUALIDAE
Squalus megalops (Macleay, 1881)
This indigenous species was first recorded by Muñoz-Chápuli et al. (1984) from the Alboran Sea. Due to its superficial resemblance to S. blainvillei, its presence in the Mediterranean had been overlooked.

PRISTIDAE
Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794
This indigenous species, poorly known due to its scarcity, was recorded in Israel by Ben-Tuvia (1971) and considered as exotic. However there is evidence of a much earlier presence : a clear citation by E. Moreau (1881) of Pristis pectinatus Latham "La scie pectinée" found in Nice (France); a mention by Tortonese (1956) of an old specimen of this species collected near Messina in the 19th century.

RHINOBATIDAE
Rhinobatos halavi (Forsskål, 1775)
This species was recorded by Tortonese (1951) from the Mediterranean coast of Egypt but no specimen is available for confirmation.

CLUPEIDAE
Clupea kowal Rüppell, 1837
This species was recorded by Steinitz (1927). Ben-Tuvia (1966) reexamined the specimen and found it to be a misidentification of Sardinella maderensis. C. kowal is a junior synonym of Ethmalosa fimbriata (Bowdich, 1825).

Dussumieria acuta Valenciennes, 1847
This species was considered for a long time to be a lessepsian migrant before Whitehead (1985) found that it is a misidentification of D. elopsoides. D. acuta does not occur in the Red Sea.

Sardinella sirm (Wabaum, 1792)
This species was recorded by Fowler and Steinitz (1956) but was a misidentification of Sardinella pilchardus. The current generic name is Amblygaster.

ARIIDAE
Arius thalassinus (Rüppell, 1835)
Golani and Ben-Tuvia (1986) reported this Indo-Pacific species from the coast of Israel based on a misidentification of a tropical Atlantic specimen of A. parkii (see Golani and Sonin, 1996).

ASTRONESTHIDAE
Borostomia antarcticus (Lönnberg, 1905)
This northern Atlantic species has been recorded in the Mediterranean by Tortonese and Zunini Sertorio (1974) in the Ligurian Sea and by Matallanas (1982) from the Iberian coast. B. antarcticus is probably indigenous to the Mediterranean but went undiscovered until the 1970's, due to its deepwater mesopelagic habitat which was not properly studied until recent times.

HEMIRAMPHIDAE
Hemiramphus gamberur (Rüppell, 1837)
Based on Ben-Tuvia's (1953a) misidentification of the indigenous Mediterranean species Hyporhamphus picarti specimens (corrected by Ben-Tuvia himself, 1966).

Hemiramphus marginatus Lesueur, 1821
Recorded by Steinitz (1927) as a misidentification of H. far (see Ben-Tuvia, 1966).

Hemiramphus unifasciatus Ranzani, 1842
Recorded by Gruvel (1929) from Syria but no specimens are available for confirmation. This species is currently placed in the genus of Hyporhamphus.

Hyporhamphus dussumieri (Valenciennes, 1846)
This species was recorded by George et al. (1964) as a misidentification of a H. affinis specimen (Golani and Ben-Tuvia, 1989).

Hyporhamphus xanthopterus (Valenciennes, 1847)
Based on Fowler and Steinitz (1956) who misidentified the indigenous H. picarti specimen (Ben-Tuvia, 1966).

EXOCOETIDAE
Demichthys unicolor (Valenciennes, 1847)
This species was recorded by Fowler and Steinitz (1956), based on small specimens, and cannot be confirmed. D. unicolor does not occur in the Red Sea. It is currently placed in the genus Exocoetus.

Parexocoetus brachypterus (Richardson, 1846)
Reported by Dor (1959) based on a misidentification of P. mento.

BELONIDAE
Tylosurus crocodilus (Péron and Le Sueur, 1821)
Reported by George et al. (1964) from Lebanon but no specimens are available for confirmation. Presumably this was a misidentification of another Lessepsian migrant T. choram (see Hureau and Monod, 1973).

MORIDAE
Laemonema latifrons Holt and Byrne, 1908
The only record of this species in the Mediterranean (Matallanas, 1985) is from deep waters, suggesting that this species is not an invader but inhabits a habitat that has been studied thoroughly only in the last few decades.

Lepidion guentheri (Giglioli, 1880)
Allué, et al. (1984) first recorded this indigenous species from the Mediterranean off the northeastern Iberian coast. Common in the Mediterranean, its deepwater habitat prevented its earlier collection.

GADIDAE
Gaidropsarus granti (Regan, 1903)
The first Mediterranean record of this deepwater species is from Rhodes (Zachariou-Mamalinga, 2000). Other Mediterranean records are from the Ligurian Sea (Orsi-Relini, pers. comm.) and from the Adriatic Sea (Bello, pers. comm.). The only records known outside of the Mediterranean are from the Azores and the Canary Islands. Thus it is not possible at this time to determine whether this species is indigenous or exotic to the Mediterranean.

MACROURIDAE
Coryphaenoides guentheri (Vaillant, 1888)
Geistdoerfer and Rannou (1972) first recorded this species in the Mediterranean off the Balearic Islands. While this indigenous species is very common in the Mediterranean, it was reported only recently in the Mediterranean due to its deepwater habitat.

ZOARCIDAE
Melanostigma atlanticum Koefoed, 1952
Tortonese (1970) first recorded this indigenous species in the Mediterranean in the Ligurian Sea. Later, several records of M. atlanticum followed in the western Mediterranean. Common below 500-600 m, it was not discovered earlier due to its deepwater habitat.

BYTHITIDAE
Cataetyx laticeps Koefoed, 1927
Geistdoerfer and Rannou (1972) first recorded this species off the Balearic Islands. This indigenous species is found in the Mediterranean below 1800 m. Its recent report in the Mediterranean is due to its deepwater habitat.

CYPRINODONTIDAE
Aphanius dispar (Rüppell, 1829)
This species was considered for many years to be a lessepsian migrant. However, electrophoretic analysis of Red Sea and Mediterranean populations of this species by Kornfield and Nevo (1972) led to the conclusion that its presence in the Mediterranean preceded the opening of the Suez Canal.

SCORPAENIDAE
Sebastapistes nuchalis (Günther, 1874)
Reported by Fröiland (1972) from Cyprus but based upon a misidentification of a Scorpaena maderensis specimen (see Golani and Sonin, 1992).

SERRANIDAE
Epinephelus coromandelicus (Day, 1878)
Reported by Steinitz (1927) but is actually a misidentification of the indigenous E. costae (see Ben-Tuvia, 1966 [as E. alexandrinus]; Golani, 1996). E. coromandelicus is a junior synonym of E. bleekeri (Vaillant, 1877), which does not occur in the Red Sea.

Epinephelus morrhua (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833)
Reported by Fowler and Steinitz (1956) who misidentified a specimen of E. costae (see Ben-Tuvia, 1966).

Epinephelus tauvina (Forsskål, 1775)
Recorded by Ben-Tuvia and Lourie (1969) and followed by Ben-Tuvia (1971; 1978) and Por (1978) based on a misidentification of E. coioides and E. malabaricus specimens (Heemstra and Golani, 1993).

Serranus melanurus (Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 1817)
Reported by Gruvel (1929) but no specimens are available for confirmation; this species is a junior synonym of Epinephelus areolatus (Forsskål, 1775).

Serranus morrhua Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833
Reported by Gruvel (1931) but no specimens are available for confirmation; currently this species is placed in the genus Epinephelus.

APOGONIDAE
Apogon (Nectamia) taeniatus Ehrenberg, 1828
Reported by Tortonese (1986) as a misidentification of A. nigripinnis.

TERAPONIDAE
Therapon jarbua Forsskål, 1775
Reported by Haas and Steinitz (1947) and based on a specimen obtained in the Haifa market, but probably captured in Aqaba, Red Sea (Ben-Tuvia, 1966). The generic name is currently spelled: Terapon.

ECHENEIDAE
Remora australis (Bennet, 1840)
Very rare species recorded as exotic by Ben-Tuvia (1971) in Israel; but there is clear evidence that this fish inhabited the Mediterranean Sea in the previous century : Trieste as Echeneis scutata (Perugia, 1881), Bari (Giglioli, 1887).

PRIACANTHIDAE
Priacanthus hamrur (Forsskål, 1775)
A single specimen of this species was recorded by Abdelmouleh (1981) from the coast of Tunisia. Its taxonomic status and origin are still unclear (Starnes, 1988).

CARANGIDAE
Caranx gallus Linnaeus, 1758
Recorded by Steinitz (1927) but no specimens are available for confirmation and presumably this was a misidentification of Alectis alexandrinus specimens (Tortonese, 1952; Ben-Tuvia, 1966); currently this species is placed in the genus Selene.

Caranx kiliche Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833
Reported by Steinitz (1927) but no specimens are available for confirmation. This species is a junior synonym of Decapterus russelli (Rüppell, 1830).

SPARIDAE
Sargus noct Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1830
Kosswig (1950) claimed erroneously that Steinitz (1927) recorded this species from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Guichenot (1850) also recorded this species from the Mediterranean but according to Ben-Tuvia (1966), this is probably a misidentification. This species currently belongs to the genus Diplodus.

MULLIDAE
Upeneus asymmetricus Lachner, 1954
This species was considered for many years to be a lessepsian migrant. However Ben-Tuvia and Golani (1989) showed that the Red Sea and the Mediterranean populations are distinct from the western Pacific Ocean population of U. asymmetricus and described them as a new species, Upeneus pori.

Upeneus barberinus (Lacepède, 1801)
Kosswig (1950) erroneously claimed that Steinitz (1927) recorded this species from the Mediterranean. Lythgoe and Lythgoe (1975) mistakenly reported this species (as Pseudopeneus barberinus) as a lessepsian migrant, accompanied by a photograph that was obviously taken elsewhere. This species is currently placed in the genus Parupeneus. P. barbarinus does not occur in the Red Sea, unlike its closely related species P. forsskali.

Upeneus tragula Richardson, 1846
Recorded by Ben-Tuvia (1966) as a misidentification of U. pori (see Ben-Tuvia and Golani, 1989).

Upeneus vittatus (Forsskål, 1775)
Reported by Fowler and Steinitz (1956). The specimen is lost but this is probably a misidentification of another Upeneus sp.

PEMPHERIDAE
Pempheris molucca Cuvier, 1829
Recorded by Mouneimne (1979) from the coast of Lebanon as a misidentification of P. vanicolensis (see Golani and Diamant, 1991).

Pempheris oualensis Cuvier, 1829
Recorded by Spanier, et al. (1990) from the coast of Israel as a misidentification of P. vanicolensis (see Golani and Diamant, 1991).

SPHYRAENIDAE
Sphyraena viridensis Cuvier, 1829
Ben-Tuvia (1971) first recorded this species from the eastern Mediterranean. Due to its resemblance to S. sphyraena, its presence in the Mediterranean had been overlooked (see Relini and Orsi-Relini, 1997).

SCARIDAE
Scarichthys coerulopunctatus Rüppell, 1835
Reported by Steinitz (1927) based on a misidentification of a Sparisoma cretense specimen (Ben-Tuvia, 1966). This species is currently placed in the genus Scarus.

BLENNIDAE
Lipophrys pholis (Linnaeus, 1758)
A single record from the Balearic Sea (see Hureau and Monod, 1973) was based on a misidentification (Zander, pers. comm.).

Parablennius pilicornis (Cuvier, 1829)
An indigenous species to the Mediterranean, its old records were under its junior synonym Blennius vandervekeni.

GOBIIDAE
Gobius couchi Miller and El-Tawil, 1974
This species was first recorded in the Mediterranean by Stefanni and Mazzoldi (1999) from Ischia Island near Naples, Italy. The authors noted its superficial resemblance to many other gobies. It is probable that G. couchi is indigenous to the Mediterranean and that its presence had been overlooked.

Oxyurichthys papuensis (Valenciennes, 1837)
This species was recorded by Ben-Tuvia (1983) from the coast of Israel as a misidentification of O. petersi.

AMMONDYTIDAE
Ammodytes tobianus Linnaeus, 1758
Riehl (1978) reported three juveniles from Ibiza. Since identification based on juveniles only is uncertain and since we lack any report of adults, it is doubtful that this Atlantic species truly inhabits the Mediterranean.

TRICHIURIDAE
Trichiurus haumela (Forsskål, 1775)
Fowler (1923) reported this species from Syria, probably as misidentification of Trichiurus lepturus, an indigenous species in the Mediterranean. Currently, some authorities consider T. haumela to be a synonym of H. lepturus.

ISTIOPHORIDAE
Istiophorus gladius (Bloch, 1793)
Reported by Ben-Tuvia (1953), based on a young specimen of the Mediterranean indigenous Tetraturus belone.

BOTHIDAE
Bothus pantherinus (Rüppell, 1830)
Dor (1958) erroneously reported this Red Sea species from the Mediterranean, based on a misidentification of a Bothus podas specimen.

TETRAODONTIDAE
Lagocephalus scleratus (Forster, 1788)
Recorded by Mouneimne (1977) as a misidentification of L. suezensis (see Golani, 1996).