FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 76, NO 1 



also occasionally found on trawling grounds in 

 various depths, at least up to 100 m. It is common 

 throughout the Mediterranean but rare in the 

 Black Sea. In the eastern Atlantic, it occurs from 

 the English Channel to Angola. Smith (1961) 

 quoted its presence in South Africa (Natal), but it 

 seems not to have been recorded from any other 

 part of the Indian Ocean. Gruvel and Chabanaud 

 (1937) reported that this fish is common through- 

 out the Suez Canal. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The occurrence of large numbers of circum- 

 tropical-cosmopolitan species in the eastern 

 Mediterranean deserves special attention. They 

 demonstrate the distinct faunistic character of the 

 fish population in this area. Of the 290 species of 

 marine fishes identified from the Mediterranean 

 coast of Israel and its immediate neighborhood, 40 

 species are circumtropical-cosmopolitan. Many of 

 them are found also in the Indo-Pacific and Red 

 Sea regions. Thus, summing up the Red Sea and 

 cosmopolitan fishes in the eastern Mediterranean, 

 there are 76 species which constitute about one- 

 quarter of all fishes identified from this region. 

 The remaining species belong to the Atlanto- 

 Mediterranean fauna. 



The Red Sea element in the eastern Mediterra- 

 nean is particularly pronounced among demersal 

 fishes. This is evident by the large number of de- 

 mersal immigrants and by their common occur- 

 rence. About 17 species are bottom-living fishes, 

 and at least 6 of them are of commercial value. I 

 estimate that they constitute about 21% (by 

 weight) of the Israeli trawl catches and 8% of the 

 inshore fishery (Ben-Tuvia 1973). George and 

 Athanassiou (1967) in their analysis of beach- 

 seine catches of St. George Bay, Lebanon, found 

 that among 26 commercially important fishes, 5 

 (19%) were Red Sea immigrants. 



For a better understanding of Suez Canal im- 

 migration, additional taxonomic and biological 

 investigations are required. Comparison of racial 

 characteristics of immigrant fishes could help to 

 clarify the question of the origin and relationship 

 between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean popu- 

 lations. It is suspected that in some cases, ex- 

 change of fauna may have taken place before the 

 opening of the Suez Canal as a result of the eleva- 

 tion of sea level and undulation of the Isthmus 

 during the Pleistocene. 



Knowledge of the comparative life histories of 

 the immigrant fishes in the two areas is essential 

 for understanding the selective mechanisms con- 

 trolling passage through the Suez Canal and 

 evaluating extensive ecological changes that the 

 invading species may produce in the new areas of 

 their distribution. 



LITERATURE CITED 



AL-HUSSAINI, A. H. 



1947. The feeding habits and the morphology of the 

 alimentary tract of some teleosts living in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Marine Biological Station, Ghardaqa, Red Sea. 

 Fouad I Univ., Publ. Mar. Biol. Stn. Ghardaqa (Red Sea) 

 5:1-61. 



Aron, W. I., AND S. H. Smith, 



1971, Ship canals and aquatic ecosystems. Science 

 (Wash., D,C.) 174:13-20. 



Baranes, a., and a, Ben-Tuvia, 



In press. The occurrence of the sandbar shark Car- 

 charhinus plumbeus (Nardo 1827) in the northern Red 

 Sea. Isr, J. Zool. 



Ben-Tuvia, A, 



1964, Two siganid fishes of the Red Sea origin in the east- 

 ern Mediterranean. Bull, Sea Fish. Res, Stn, (Haifa) 

 37:1-9, 



1966, Red Sea fishes recently found in the Mediterra- 

 nean, Copeia 1966:254-275, 



1971a, On the occurrence of a Mediterranean serranid fish 

 Dicentrarchus punctatus (Bloch) in the Gulf of Suez, 

 Copeia 1971:741-743, 



1971b. Revised list of the Mediterranean fishes of Is- 

 rael. Isr. J. Zool. 20:1-39. 



1973. Man-made changes in the eastern Mediterranean 

 Sea and their effect on the fishery resources. Mar. Biol. 

 (Berl.) 19:197-203. 



1975a. Comparison of the fish fauna in the Bardawil La- 

 goon and the Bitter Lakes. Rapp. Comm. Int. Mer 

 Mediterr. 23:125-126. 



1975b. Mugilid fishes of the Red Sea with a key to the 

 Mediterranean and Red Sea species. Bamidgeh 27:14- 

 20. 



1976. Fish collections from the eastern Mediterranean, 

 the Red Sea, and inland waters of Israel. Zool. Mus., 

 Heb. Univ. Jerus., 32 p, 



1977, New records of Red Sea immigrants in the eastern 

 Mediterranean, Cybium, 3e Ser., 1:95-102. 



Ben-Tuvia, a,, and a. Grofit. 



1973, Exploratory trawling in the Gulf of Suez, November 

 1972, [In Heb,, Engl, abstr,] Fish. Fish Breed. Isr. 8:8-16. 



Ben-Tuvia, a., and a. lourie. 



1969. A Red Sea grouper Epinephelus tauvina caught on 

 the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Isr. J. Zool. 18:245- 

 247. 

 Ben-Yami, M. 



1955. Overfishing or bad season? [In Heb.] Fishermens' 

 Bull. 1(6):10-14. 



Ben-Yami, M., and T. Glaser. 



1974. The invasion ofSaurida undosquamis (Richardson) 

 into the Levant Basin — An example of biological effect of 

 interoceanic canals. Fish. Bull., U.S. 72:359-373. 



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