0000000001068525
AUTHOR
B. Galil
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF SOFT-BOTTOM IN HAIFA BAY (ISRAEL): AMPHIPOD ASSEMBLAGES
Ecological information concerning amphipods and representation of their spatial distribution through GIS provides an estimate of local environmental quality.
Grandidierella bonnieroides Stephensen, 1948 (Amphipoda, Aoridae)-first record of an established population in the Mediterranean Sea
The first record in the Mediterranean Sea of the invasive aorid amphipod crustacean Grandidierella bonnieroides is presented. A widespread circumtropical species, recorded off the Saudi coast of the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, it may have been introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. This tube-builder species of soft bottoms recently established a population in the polluted Haifa Bay, Israel. Further, this is the first Mediterranean record of the genus.
An additional record of Kyphosus vaigiensis (QuoyGaimard, 1825) (Osteichthyes, Kyphosidae) from Sicily clarifies the confused situation of the Mediterranean kyphosids.
The lowfin chub, Kyphosus vaigiensis, is reported for the first time off Favignana Island, Sicily, central Mediterranean Sea. The specimen was identified on the basis of morphometric and meristic characters as well as mitochondrial DNA sequences (COI and 16S-rDNA). Two, perhaps three, Kyphosus species - K. bigibbus, K. sectatrix and K. vaigiensis - have been occasionally recorded in the Mediterranean. These species occur both in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions but it is likely they entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. However, it is unclear whether they have established reproductive native populations in the Mediterranean.