FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 76, NO. 1 



Table l. — Data on Red Sea fishes found in the Mediterranean. 



'Maximum length observed in Mediterranean. 

 ^Farthest point of distribution. 

 ^Length of disc. 

 "Indian Ocean only. 

 ^Persian Gulf only. 



the preceding years. Then the fish suddenly ap- 

 peared to be fairly common along the whole 

 Mediterranean coast of Israel, although it re- 

 mained inferior in numbers to a previous Red Sea 

 immigrant, S. rivulatus. Recent observations and 

 reports show that S. luridus spread rapidly in the 

 Mediterranean towards the west and north. It is 

 common in Lebanon (George and Athanassiou 

 1967), Cyprus, Rhodes, and has even reached 

 Tunisia (Ktari-Chakroun and Bouhlal 1971), a 

 distance of more than 1,000 n.mi. from the Suez 

 Canal. 



It is a common feature of invading organisms 

 that after an initial period of successful adaptation 

 to the new and basically favorable environment, 

 they may suddenly increase in number and spread 

 to adjacent areas (Elton 1958). Various factors 

 such as decrease in salinities of the Bitter Lakes 

 and cessation of the Nile flood after the completion 

 of the Aswan Dam may facilitate the passage or 

 dispersion of Red Sea species. There is speculation 

 that this immigration was also favored by a series 

 of warm years (Oren 1956; Ben-Yami and Glaser 

 1974). 



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