BEN-TUVIA: IMMIGRATION OF FISHES 



species collected in Bardawil Lagoon, 14 species 

 (25.5%) are Red Sea immigrants in comparison 

 with about 11% estimated for all the fishes col- 

 lected in the eastern Mediterranean (Ben-Tuvia 

 1971b). 



The following Red Sea immigrants were col- 

 lected in Bardawil Lagoon: Hemiramphus far, 

 Aphanius dispar, Atule djeddaba, Pelates quad- 

 rilineatus, Leiognathus klunzingeri, Upeneus 

 moluccensis, Crenidens crenidens, Liza carinata, 

 Pranesus pinguis, Siganus luridus, S. rivulatus, 

 Sphaeroides spadiceus, and recently Herklot- 

 sichthys punctatus and Autisthes puta. 



In addition to the Red Sea immigrants, four 

 cosmopolitan species were also found in Bardawil 

 Lagoon: namely, Sardinella aurita, Lobotes 

 surinamensis , Mugil cephalus, and Echeneis nau- 

 crates. 



RED SEA FISHES IN 

 THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA 



In my previous summary of the immigration of 

 Red Sea fishes into the Mediterranean ( Ben-Tuvia 

 1966), 24 species were listed; 12 additional immi- 

 grants were since found, most of them are rare 

 fishes at this time. Their names, distribution, and 

 the maximum size observed in the Mediterranean 

 Sea are given in Table 1 . As yet, only one specimen 

 of Tylosurus choram (Collette and Parin 1970), 

 Rastrelliger kanagurta (Collette 1970), Sebas- 

 tapistes nuchalis (Froiland 1972), and Silago 

 sihama (Mouneimne 1977) have been reported 

 from the eastern Mediterranean. 



Froiland (1972), who studied scorpaenids from 

 Cyprus in the collection of the Hebrew University 

 Zoological Museum, reported one specimen of 

 Sebastapistes nuchalis (Giinther) 58 mm long. 

 This species is known from the Indo-Pacific, in- 

 cluding East Africa, but no records are available 

 from the Red Sea, Suez Canal, and other localities 

 in the eastern Mediterranean besides Cyprus. 

 Froiland assumed that this scorpaenid "migrated 

 through the Suez Canal." 



Epinephelus tauvina (Ben-Tuvia and Lourie 

 1969), Pelates quadirilineatus (Lourie and Ben- 

 Tuvia 1971), and Scomberomorus commerson 

 (George and Athanassiou 1965) were collected on 

 several occasions and do not seem to be very rare. 

 Herklotsichthys punctatus and Rhonciscus stri- 

 dens have been found recently in the eastern 

 Mediterranean at several localities (Ben-Tuvia 

 1967, 1977; Mouneimne 1977). One specimen of 



Spratelloides delicatulus (Bennet) 51 mm long was 

 collected with rotenone on 4 June 1973 in a shal- 

 low bay about 3 km south of Atlit (Ben-Tuvia, 

 unpubl. data). The occurrence oi Crenidens creni- 

 dens and Autisthes puta is restricted to the hyper- 

 saline Bardawil Lagoon. 



It is of interest to note that some of the Red Sea 

 immigrants have been found in recent years in 

 new localities west of Levant (Figure 1); Stephano- 

 lepis diaspros in the Gulf of Taranto, south Italy 

 and Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia (Tortonese 1967); 

 Siganus rivulatus off Tobrouk, Libya (Tortonese 

 1970). 



With the exception of perhaps two fishes, 

 Saurida undosquamis and Siganus luridus, very 

 little information is available on the rate of in- 

 crease of the immigrant population and the ecolog- 

 ical influence of their appearance in the new re- 

 gion. The first Mediterranean specimen of 

 Saurida undosquamis, 145 mm standard length, 

 was collected in Haifa Bay, by a trawler, in De- 

 cember 1952. Additional specimens (160-171 mm) 

 were collected in Haifa in February 1953. Accord- 

 ing to my observations in August 1953, taken on 

 the deck of a commercial trawler, this fish was 

 fairly common in the Gaza-El'Arish area, and 

 10-20 specimens were usually caught in each haul. 

 There is also some information on the trawling 

 activities in the Gulf of Iskenderun and Mersin on 

 the Anatolian coast of Turkey. In August 1952, I 

 participated in a commercial trawling cruise to 

 the Gulf of Mersin between Karadash-Burnuun 

 and Bagase, during which no Saurida undosqua- 

 mis were collected. But in 1956, this fish was 

 common on the same trawling grounds and fished 

 in commercial quantities. According to catch data, 

 S. undosquamis started to appear in commercial 

 quantities in the year 1955, first on the southern 

 fishing grounds (El'Arish to Tel Aviv) and towards 

 the end of the same year and especially during 

 1956 also on the northern fishing grounds such as 

 Haifa Bay, and even in the Gulf of Iskendrun and 

 Mersin (Ben-Yami 1955; Oren 1957). 



It is worthwhile noticing that no specimens of S. 

 undosquamis were found before December 1952, 

 although Mediterranean fishes were collected in 

 Israel during earlier years by the staff of the Sea 

 Fisheries Research Station, Haifa, and by scien- 

 tists of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. 



No less interesting is the sudden appearance of 

 Siganus luridus (Ben-Tuvia 1964). Not a single 

 specimen was found before February 1955, in spite 

 of extensive collecting activities in Israel during 



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